The Scientific Revolution
by The Story Sphere
Summary: Book 1 of "The Future of Gensokyo" trilogy. Magic is unnatural. It defies all known laws of physics. This is the philosophy of Gensokyo's new... visitors. Reimu, Marisa, and just about everyone else now have to save Gensokyo from all magic being destroyed, and worse... Expect few updates 'cause I'm lazy. Constructive Criticism is greatly appreciated.
1. Dreams of Reality

**Note*** I really don't know as much as I probably should about the Touhou Project and its many characters. I'll try my best to be accurate, but please forgive any inaccurate facts or characters acting… well, out of character. Also, the story is absolutely filled with OCs. Hopefully, that won't sway your opinion too much.

* * *

A scream. Everything was completely dark except for a small blue light out of the corner of her eye. Something was coming, descending, piercing Gensokyo's border as though it were tissue paper. All the while screaming could be heard, though it was not the scream of any human or yokai. The scream was as metal scraping against metal. Brief flashes of red covered the faint, persistent blue at almost regular intervals. Always the screaming, the screeching, it clawed at her ears.

Suddenly, the scene changed. Still darkness, though through very little light, a forest could be made out. Large bangs could be heard, and at each one, a single tree was knocked out of existence, to be replaced by a silver replica. Off in the distance, a small cottage lay peacefully. Another loud _clang_ and the cottage was as silver as the trees.

Another scene shift. An eye, green as an emerald, brilliant as the sun, yet dead and soulless, stared into her sweating face. A single word could be heard, garbled and hollow; _salvation…_

A lightning bolt outside startled her awake. She sat up in a jolt, her face beaded with sweat. Rain poured down on the roof of the shrine, and brief white flashes could be seen outside. Reimu sighed. _That same dream again._ She thought. "I must be going crazy." She said to herself. Knowing that it was likely useless, she lay back down and drifted off to sleep.

A voice woke her up this time. _I just won't get any sleep at night, will I?_ The voice sounded again. "Reimu!" If she wasn't so tired, she could recognize the voice.

The rain still poured outside as she got up to open the door. She was surprised at who was there. She had short blue hair and was wearing a light blue gown with white fringes. She was barefoot, but her most prominent feature were her icicle-shaped wings. She was completely drenched. "Cirno?" Reimu asked, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing here this late?"

"Sorry to bother you." It wasn't Cirno who answered. Hidden behind the half-open door was another fairy. This one had green hair and a much darker blue dress. She was soaked through as well. "We've uh… got a bit of a problem."

Reimu let Cirno and Daiyousei in despite the hour and weather. Cirno simply sat with a scowl on her face the whole time, while Daiyousei was more apologetic. "Thank you for seeing us this late." Reimu lit a candle and nodded. "Winter has been prolonged before. Everyone in Gensokyo is familiar with the unnaturally long winters that have come in the past." Cirno remained silent. "We were fine with it before, winter is our favorite time of year, but…" Daiyousei paused. "Cirno says winter isn't coming this year, and I can't explain why, but I believe her." She looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"How can you be sure?" Reimu asked.

"It doesn't matter." Cirno finally spoke up. "I just know. I can feel it."

"I'll need a little more to go on than that."

Cirno stood up abruptly. "I knew you wouldn't listen." She started walking out of the shrine. "Come on Daiyousei."

Daiyousei stood up and followed Cirno, bowing as she left. "Thank you for your time." She closed the door softly.

Reimu sighed. "Fairies…" She lay back down trying to get some sleep. The storm outside wasn't helping. Eventually she managed to drift off back to sleep, hoping the nightmare didn't come back.

* * *

The next morning, Reimu was awakened early. It isn't everyday someone slams your door open and shouts something, and it's never pleasant when it does happen. However, when that message is "Flandre's been kidnapped!" you kind of have to pay attention.

Reimu's eyes fluttered open as she tried to comprehend what was just said to her. She saw Marisa standing in the doorway, slightly disheveled, with her broom in one hand. She had a very surprised and frustrated look on her face. "What did you sa-"

"Flandre's been kidnapped!" Marisa repeated. "Wake up and come on!" She slammed the door again and stormed off, muttering as she did so.

When Reimu finally pulled herself together and walked outside, she saw Marisa on the ground arguing with Yukari of all people. "And why should I help you?" Yukari said, turning away and crossing her arms.

Marisa almost snapped. "What part of 'Flandre Scarlet's been kidnapped' do you not understand?"

"And why does this concern me?"

"Think about it. Anyone strong enough to kidnap Flandre Scarlet without any sound or even a clue will certainly be more powerful than pretty much everyone in Gensokyo!"

"What's going on out here?" Reimu asked as she walked toward the two. "What do you _mean_ Flandre's been kidnapped? And what do you need me _or_ Yukari for?"

Marisa sighed. "Last night, out of nowhere, Flandre Scarlet was abducted from Scarlet Devil Mansion. Nobody heard a sound and no clues were found after lookin' through the whole mansion. I want to go see what's goin' on, but there's some kind of barrier that I've never seen before guarding the entire perimeter. I thought either you or Yukari could help me past through it."

And so the truth comes out. A selfish motive as usual. "Did you have to get me up so early for this?" Reimu asked.

"Early?" Marisa and Yukari both looked confused. "Anyway, I'm impatient, so can one of you please help me out?"

"Wait, if there's a barrier around the mansion, how'd you find out about-" Yukari started asking. Marisa simply shoved a newspaper in her face with the headline "Scarlet Devil's Little Sister Kidnapped!"

"If Aya can get through the barrier, I want to too!"


	2. Ethernet Cable: Magician of Virtual Arts

**Note*** When I wrote this story, I had in mind a story similar to the format of any of the danmaku games, but with IaMP or SWR style fight scenes.

* * *

In the end, somehow, Yukari was let off the hook, and Reimu was dragged along. _How did _this_ happen?_

They made it to the Forest of Magic rather quickly. Nothing really unusual seemed to be happening. Birds sang, cicadas chirped, a light breeze blew, guitar music could be heard in the air. It was just another boring… _wait, guitar music?_ It was light and pleasant, yet it produced an ominous feeling. "Did you hear this before?" Reimu asked. Marisa shook her head, and they started going toward the music.

They walked for a short while before encountering someone they didn't expect. A girl with light, blonde hair, a red headband, and a blue dress with white shoulder fringes was standing in the middle of the forest. Her eyes were closed and her head was tilted downward. She had one hand on her heart. Two dolls, one in red and one in blue, hovered close beside her. As Reimu and Marisa stepped closer, she opened her eyes. "Menacing, isn't it?" She said. Neither Marisa nor Reimu knew what she meant. They kept walking. Once they met with Alice, she started walking with them. "You'll need all the help you can get if I'm right."

They eventually ended up in a clearing. In the center was a girl they had never seen before. She had light green, almost colorless hair with a silver clip on one side. Her eyes were closed, but she looked rather young. She was sitting on a crate that looked very much out of place in the forest, and strumming a guitar. The music truly was beautiful, yet menacing all at the same time. On her feet were a pair of black and white boots of a design that none of them recognized. She was rather pretty.

Reimu walked up to her. "Who are you?" she asked.

The girl smiled. "Ethernet. Ethernet Cable. And you are?" She opened one eye. It was a startling shade of purest silver and reinforced her beauty.

"Reimu Hakurei." Reimu responded. Ethernet simply nodded, closed her eye, and continued playing. Marisa and Reimu exchanged looks. Through a silent agreement, they decided to continue on. They hadn't even left the clearing when a wall of solid energy, constantly shifting color and design, rose from the ground with sonic speed and blocked their path.

"This is the barrier." Marisa said. Reimu went to go feel it, but Marisa shouted "Don't touch it!" Reimu's hand shrank away. "It's like getting struck by lightning when you touch it." They stared at the great barrier in amazement.

"Why can't we just fly over it?" Alice asked.

"I've tried. It curves and surrounds the mansion like a dome." Marisa replied.

Reimu looked back Ethernet. "Do you know anything about this barrier?" Reimu asked. Ethernet didn't respond. "Are you the one responsible?" Again, no answer. Reimu started to grow impatient. She threw a small group of charms at Ethernet. Staying true to their design, they sped toward their target swiftly. When they were but a few inches from Ethernet, a small crackle of lightning stopped them dead in their tracks, and they fell to the ground

"Too easy." Ethernet mumbled loud enough for the rest of them to hear.

Reimu scowled. "What are you? Yokai?"

Ethernet chuckled. "Not even close. Weakling's all of them."

"Human?" Alice asked.

"Somewhat. Though that part of me is rather recessive."

"Ghost?" Marisa asked.

"I don't believe in them."

"Witch?" Marisa asked again.

It was Ethernet's turn to scowl. "A spit on the word." Both Marisa and Alice looked rather angry at that. "Magic. It's unnatural. All of its practitioners should be killed."

"Than what _are_ you?" Reimu asked snappily.

Ethernet chuckled again. "Do you not see? Take a closer look at my left hand."

It's surprising this wasn't the _first_ thing they noticed. Where her left wrist should have been was a small, blue disc about half an inch thick. Protruding from that disc was not a hand of flesh, but rather a collection of metal rods and wires that seemed to form a functioning hand. Everyone looked slightly horrified.

"Still don't get it? I'll spell it out for you then." She smiled menacingly. "I am a cyborg." She opened both her eyes, startling the three even more. Her left eye was the beautiful, silver one she opened earlier. Her right eye was completely black, with a big green, glowing dot in the middle. Every time she blinked, a barely audible _whirr_ could be heard. "Half human, half machine." The guitar in her hands became slightly transparent, and its image flickered slightly. The music suddenly became very, very dark, and several other instruments began to join in. Their hazy images could just barely be made out behind Ethernet.

"If you hate magic so much, what's with the barrier?" Marisa asked.

"It's not magic." Ethernet replied. "It's electrical energy, manifested into a physical form. Magic could achieve the same goal, but this was created _within_ the laws of physics." She stopped playing her music, and the instruments all vanished. "I am under orders to make certain that no one penetrates this border. I will act on those orders unto my last breath." A semi-transparent sword formed out of thin air beside her. It was about seven feet long, not including the handle, and the edge was serrated. The whole time, small white lines moved throughout it, as though it wasn't all there. She seemed to have no problem lifting it.

"How did Aya get through?" Marisa asked.

"She was not considered a threat. You three, however, have been deemed more dangerous."

"How flattering." Alice mumbled.


	3. Missing shades of red and blue

The fight was not going well. Reimu, Marisa, and Alice gave it everything they've got, but they could barely even touch Ethernet. Bullets of all kinds flew in every direction, but every time they came close to her, another crackle of lightning evaporated them instantly. Ethernet had no such trouble. Each of her bullets were hazy, fluctuating cubes. After only a few minutes, Reimu, Marisa, and Alice were all covered in bruises.

Marisa finally lost her temper. She pulled out her mini-hakkero and pointed it toward Ethernet. Reimu and Alice both jumped out of the way. Ethernet only laughed. "You seem to be forgetting what you is magic. I am immune to all magic attacks."

Marisa ignored her and pulled out a small card. "Spellcard: Master Spark!" An instant later, bright light of any number of colors poured forth from the small, wooden octagon she held in her hand. The heat was very intense, and Reimu and Alice could feel it even behind Marisa. Ethernet was completely engulfed by the ray. Marisa simply stood there smiling.

The light faded and the heat became less intense. Everyone was eager to see what happened to Ethernet. They were disturbed by what they saw. Ethernet was surrounded by eight small spheres, each looking like it was made of the energy from Marisa's Master Spark. "Now it's my turn." Ethernet raised a hand, but stopped there. Her expression changed from one of enjoyment to one of irritation. She lowered her hand again, and the sphere's vanished. "I've received orders to return for further instructions." The barrier that once blocked the way to Scarlet Devil Mansion slowly dissipated. "We've completed what we set out to accomplish. Don't worry you three, we will meet again." Her entire form became hazy indistinct, and in a flash of green light, she was gone.

A full minute went by before anyone moved. _How can she hate magic if she used so much of it?_ Reimu looked around to see Marisa already gone. "She's really got a one track mind." She noticed Alice was gone too. "And now I'm talking to myself. Great." She started walking toward the mansion too.

* * *

It didn't take long for Reimu to catch up to the others. When they came to the mansion's gate, Hong Meiling wasn't there. _Odd…_ Reimu thought to herself. Marisa clearly saw it as an opportunity and strolled right through the gate. Alice just shrugged and followed suit. Reimu slapped her hand against her forehead.

Marisa reached for the door, but it opened before she touched the doorknob, it opened on its own. Sakuya, in her dark purple dress, almost ran head first into Marisa. "I'm sorry. Excuse me." She circled around Marisa, bowed, and hurried off.

After a brief moment of confusion, another voice sounded from deeper in the mansion. "Sakuya!" It was getting closer. "Sakuya, wait!" A girl in a pink dress with light, sky blue hair and deep red eyes stood in the doorway, panting. One long fang-like tooth was hanging out of her mouth and her bat-like wings were drooping. She looked like she'd been running for a while. After she caught her breath, she looked at the three standing in her doorway and blinked. "What are you three doing here?"

Marisa leaned in close and smiled. "So what's this I hear about Flandre bein' kidnapped?"

Remilia sighed. "Aya came by asking about that same thing. Yes, my little sister vanished without a trace last night, but we can't say for sure that she's been kidnapped."

"Hm…" Marisa kept smiling. "Let's go look around." She said to Alice and Reimu. They all three walked right past Remilia.

* * *

Flandre's room looked perfectly ordinary. Nothing seemed out of place. "As I said,we can't be sure that Flandre was even kidnapped." Remilia said. "She could have just as likely ran away."

"How? She wouldn't be able to do it so silently." Reimu said. "Run through what happened again."

"Sakuya went to go bring Flandre her meal, and when she opened the door, Flandre was nowhere to be found. Hong, Sakuya, Patchy, Koakuma and I scoured the entire mansion, but she was just gone. A few minutes ago, Sakuya got this haunted look in her eye and bolted out the door."

"What was up with that?" Marisa asked. "She really seemed like she was in a hurry."

"Who knows? Once she started running she wouldn't listen to a single word I said. What surprised us all was that during her mad dash, she accidentally pushed Patchy down. All she did was say 'sorry' and keep running. She didn't even turn around."

"Sakuya?" Reimu asked. _Her of all people?_

The conversation was interrupted by a scream. The voice was very familiar. "Was that Patchouli?" Alice asked.

"It came from the library. Come on!" Marisa waved her hand and ran out of Flandre's room. Alice, Reimu, and Remilia followed. They bolted through the mansion, but stopped half way to the basement. "Over there!" Marisa shouted, pointing to a door that just slammed shut. They ran to the door and ripped it open. They only had time to see Patchouli's deep purple eyes vanish in a flash of green light. Scorch marks formed wherever the light rays touched.

* * *

**Note* **Rather short, I know. The rest of the chapters should be lengthier.


	4. The Root of the Problem

The Scientific Revolution – 4: The root of the problem

**Note*** I know I'm a bad story teller. Please try to look past my lack of skills and enjoy the actual content. Also I only have the first few Touhou games, so I don't know all that much about Moriya Shrine and its residents. I'll do my best, but the personalities might be all wrong.

After a brief moment of everyone staring incredulously at the incident, all of them flew out of the mansion as quick as they could. They all ran a few feet before Remilia shouted "Wait!" Everyone stopped and turned around. "Does anyone know where we're going?" They exchanged glances and Marisa shrugged. Remilia sighed. "I'm not even supposed to be out here during the day." She started walking back toward the mansion. "You always manage to solve anything anyway." With a wave of her hand, she was gone.

Alice started walking off. "I don't even know why I got involved. I'm going home."

Reimu stared off in the distance. "First Flandre, then Patchouli. Who could be doing this?"

Marisa shrugged. "Who knows?"

Reimu paused. "I'm going to ask around and see if anyone else has been kidnapped."

**LINE**

Reimu flew all over Gensokyo to one location after another. Everywhere was the same. Someone had vanished without a trace, however not all last night. People have been disappearing for weeks now. The only place she hadn't yet checked was Moriya Shrine. _Hopefully they've managed to hold off whoever's causing this._ Reimu thought.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. When she made it to Youkai Mountain, she found Kanako and Sanae in pitched battle with a girl in a black jumpsuit with neon green eyes and cropped short grey hair. As soon as she noticed Reimu, she stopped fighting and vanished in a flash of green light, much the same way whoever kidnapped Patchouli did. There were more scorch marks on the ground where she was.

Sanae was panting and fell to her knees. Kanako just looked slightly winded. Reimu walked up to both of them. "Who was that?"

"We didn't catch her name." Kanako answered. "I think she was trying to kidnap me."

"She tried to _kill_ me!" Sanae shouted from where she was doubled over.

Kanako continued. "It's a good thing you showed up. We have a situation on our hands and we need all the help we can get." Reimu gave her a curious look. "Look up there." She pointed in the air behind Reimu. What she saw she couldn't believe.

Floating, hanging there in the sky, was a massive, light blue disc-like object. It almost resembled a second moon, though it was clearly visible in bright sunlight. Jagged, black lines could barely be made out all over the surface. Despite its clearly blue color, the whole thing was surrounded by a slight green nimbus. "What… is that thing?" Reimu asked.

"That thing," Kanako replied "Is the cause of all this."

Reimu realized something. "Where's Suwako?" She already knew the answer, but she desperately hoped she was wrong.

Kanako pointed again to the blue circle. "Kidnapped, just like the others."

Sanae had caught her breath and joined the conversation. "It was late one night. We didn't hear or see a thing."

_A goddess…_ Reimu thought to herself. _They managed to overpower a goddess…? Who can possibly be that powerful?_

"Excuse me?" The voice startled everyone. They turned around to see a bashful looking girl with green hair done in two short pigtails and a long blue dress with several pockets. "Reimu? I didn't expect you here…" Nitori cleared her throat. "We have a minor situation. It's actually good you're here, Reimu. I need your help."

They followed Nitori down to the base of the mountain. There, they saw something Reimu wasn't expecting: a frail-looking human girl in a black and pink striped dress with long, brunette hair and big eyes sitting on a log. The girl looked like she'd been crying, and when she noticed the group, she shrank away from them. She looked absolutely terrified.

"We're not here to hurt you." Reimu said as soft as she could. "Who are you?"

Tears started welling up in her eyes. "I don't remember."

"Amnesia?" Kanako asked.

"No… it's a little worse than that." She looked Reimu in the eye. "It's a long story. I wouldn't want to bore you."

Reimu looked over to Nitori. "Is this the situation?" She asked.

"It's worse than it looks." Nitori replied. "She's from… up there." She pointed to the blue disc. That changed everything. Reimu started gathering her energy, preparing for a fight. "Wait!" Nitori said. "She's harmless, we made sure of that. Talk to her first."

Reimu sighed. She went over and sat next the girl. "So you're from the UFO?"

"Router." She said. Nobody said anything, and Reimu gave her a confused look. "Nobody remembers its real name, but now it's called Router." She started sobbing again. "I don't blame you if you hate me from the start. We're more or less the Anti-Gensokyo after all."

**Note*** A bit short, I know. I promise this story gets better, despite its lack of structure right now. All questions and mysteries will be solved eventually, I promise. Also, yes, she said "Anti-Gensokyo." I promise she's doesn't mean it literally. The history is explained in the next chapter. "Anti-Gensokyo" is only a comparison. In fact, only one character is even remotely a counterpart of someone from Gensokyo, and that's if you stretch the definition. Also, I've started writing the entire history behind what's going on here, which will be posted in the forums after this first book (because it contains spoilers) so updates MAY slow down.


	5. Science and Magic

_I am human. You need not doubt that fact; I am the same as every human here on this planet. Only our birthplace is different. Millions of years ago, longer than living beings can remember, this world was almost twice its current size. ack then, magic and technology were both heavily present and used by almost everyone. However, peace was a dream not many people believed in. Tension between the great magicians and scientists of the time went beyond simple dislike._

_It wasn't long before war broke out; technology on one side, magic on the other. People who were once best friends were now heated rivals. The fighting lasted for 69 years before it happened. A natural disaster of biblical proportions struck the planet, and neither the greatest magic nor the most powerful inventions could stop it. It caused the planet to fracture and split into two separate planets. Over half the population was wiped out in an instant. Nearly everything was destroyed on both sides, however life continued to grow. On this side the majority of the population followed science and denied the existence of magic altogether. The opposite was true on the other side._

_The name of our planet has long been forgotten. All we have are history teachings, and what we know goes like this. Our world was full of magic. People used it every day in various ways. The problem was that there was a population of scientists who believed that magic was an abomination. They built a mighty electric shield and cut themselves off from the rest of the planet, similar to the way Gensokyo is now. There they were allowed to experiment and build undisturbed. Unfortunately they grew so powerful that they left their own border and proceeded to take over the planet. All traces of magic were eliminated forever._

_The whole planet was completely mechanized. Almost every square inch of ground was covered in metal. Each city was designed to function independently of the others, each controlled by its own artificial intelligence and run by its own power source. Things were peaceful for a time, but good things never last. Nobody remembers what exactly happened, but another disaster occurred and destroyed our planet. Our city, whose name is, again, lost in history, managed to disconnect from the surface and escape before everything was destroyed. No other city had the chance._

_And so we drifted for thousands of years. Our city is now called Router, and our AI is known as Power._

* * *

Holographic screens flashed all around her. Every screen was visible for only 1.13 seconds, but that was long enough for her to process the data. The whole room was dark, except for the large pedestal she stood on, which lit up with a soft blue light from the bottom. Router was running within tolerable limits. Despite her ploy of being "emotionless," she smiled. _Gensokyo will be ours soon._

_Good._ She was the only one who could hear the voice. Every screen suddenly went completely green; a bright, lime green that only meant one thing. _Have the scouts been sent out?_

"Yes, Power." She said, her voice hollow and monotone. "onExplore's scouts have been given their instructions and sent to their respective locations. Several have already completed their objective and returned for instructions."

_Good. You've served me well these years, Terra Byte._

"You flatter me, Power. I do as you programmed." The screens resumed their blue glow and data continued to flash across them. _Magic couldn't stop us once. It won't stop us now._

* * *

"Power has absolute control over every aspect of our lives. Even our thought and feelings are suppressed and sometimes controlled." The girl had calmed down enough to talk quickly and concisely. She still sounded forlorn and winced every so often.

"How are you able to tell us all this?" Kanako asked. "It's fairly safe to assume this Power wouldn't want you telling us."

She held up her left arm. Her entire forearm was wrapped tight in white bandages. Small red streaks could barely be seen through them. Nitori spoke up. "We removed a fairly large chip from her arm. She put up a bit of a fight, but once it was out, she calmed down and started crying."

"I don't remember why I was sent down here…" The girl said. "All I know is I had some kind of goal. Nobody leaves Router without an objective of some kind." She looked up at Nitori. "Destroy it." Nitori gave her a confused look. "Destroy the chip you took out of me. I want to see the entire thing as a pile of fine dust." Her voice had a slight edge to it, and her face was hard as iron.

Nitori had a helpless look on her face. "Well, I kind of wanted to see how it worked…"

"No!" The girl almost shouted. "Destroy it! I'm not safe until it's completely destroyed!" Her eyes were filled with tears again.

"What do you mean?" Sanae asked.

"Those chips can be replaced, but they have to be specifically created for each person born. If mine's destroyed beyond repair, it'll take weeks to make another one." She started mumbling. "Maybe by then I can escape." She buried her face in her hands. "No, they'll find me!" She looked up at Reimu and the others. "Who are all of you?"

They each in turn said their names.

"Reimu Hakurei…" She repeated after Reimu. She grunted. "Why does that sound so familiar?"

Nitori put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We'll take down Router and everyone in it. Right Reimu?" She gave Reimu a confident look.

The girl almost screamed. "NO!" After a brief moment she said. "Sorry… I didn't mean to…" she cleared her throat. "onExplore isn't the group you're after! It's Power!"

"What's 'onExplore'?" Kanako asked.

The girl's face lit up slightly. "onExplore is the group we're all part of. It's hard to describe really. I guess you could say it's like a business or organization. Our only problem is that we're headed by a malfunctioning AI."

"Malfunctioning?" Sanae asked.

"Power has been acting strange ever since we learned about Earth. My memory's been wiped of any details, but as far as I know we're here in Gensokyo specifically for some reason. The problem is that Power denies the existence of magic, yet is trying to…" her face looked strained. She sighed. "I really can't remember. All I know is that Router and the rest of onExplore isn't your target. Power is." She stopped talking.

"Well, that settles it." Reimu said. "So we go up to Router, teach this Power person a lesson, and everything's fine."

Surprisingly, the girl actually chuckled at that. "You think it'll be that easy?" She stared at Reimu's eyes. "Power isn't a person. It doesn't even have a body. I don't think you know what a program is…" She thought for a moment. "Do you have any kind of artificial life forms in Gensokyo?" Everyone gave her a blank look. "Inanimate objects that have been given a kind of life through… magic I guess?"

"You mean like a shikigami?" Kanako asked.

"Sure, why not? Well, picture one of those without a physical body; one that uses the world around it _as_ its body." She stared at the ground. "Power uses a gigantic machine as its main housing unit. Only the Processors are allowed to even see it. From that main unit, Power has control over everything."

"Do you understand any of this?" Reimu asked Nitori.

"Most of it." She replied. "Alright, so how can we defeat this thing?"

"You can't" was the reply.

**Note* **Everything about Router and onExplore and full character bios for all my OCs will be posted in the forum after this first book.


	6. Data Signal: Silver Colored Motherboard

**Note*** He's one of my favorite characters, so I _had_ to put him in the story, even if he only gets a small part. You'll know who I mean soon.

* * *

_Technology…_ Marisa pulled out her mini-hakkero and stared at it. _Whatever's going on here, it's definitely not from Gensokyo._ She hopped on her broom and started flying toward Kourindou. _If there's anyone to ask about the outside world, it's Kourin._

She didn't have to fly far. Soon the weather worn building known as Kourindou came into view. As she usually did, Marisa walked straight in without knocking. "Hey Kourin! You there?" She walked a little deeper into the shop, passing assorted odds and ends that were mostly unrecognizable, and found Rinnosuke and, surprisingly, Yukari having what appeared to be an argument.

"Ah, Marisa-san." Rinnosuke said. "I was wondering when you'd show up again."

"Am I interrupting somethin'?"

"No, no. Yukari-san and I were just discussing our business arrangements. Was there anything you needed?"

Marisa hesitated. "I suppose it's good you're here, Yukari. I wanted to know if anything strange was going on in the outside world."

Yukari answered. "Nothing out of the ordinary as far as I know."

"Nothing stranger than usual has come through the border." Rinnosuke answered as well.

Marisa sighed. "Figures…" She turned to leave the store. "Thanks any-" she was cut off by a loud _crash_ from outside. She bolted outside to see what happened, as did Yukari. Over the horizon, above the Forest of Magic, was a trail of silver colored smoke. She couldn't be sure, but the trees under that general area seemed discolored. _Isn't that Alice's house? _She thought. _I thought she wanted to stay out of this._

"What in the world was that?" Yukari exclaimed.

"Wanna find out?" Marisa pulled held up her broom. Without waiting for an answer, she took off toward the smoke. Yukari decided to stay behind.

* * *

"Who… who are you?" Alice asked, her voice quivering from shock.

"No one of consequence." Was the reply from the girl standing before her. She was dressed in a skin tight, black jumpsuit with metal beams winding this way and that all over her. Her skin was dead white, and her eyes shone a brilliant green. Her ankle length, glossy black hair was unkempt and messy. Surrounding her was a cloud of what seemed to be insects which buzzed in a regular pattern all over her. "You need not worry. It will be swift and painless." Her voice was completely monotone, and her face showed no expression.

When Marisa finally showed up, she could barely believe what she saw. All of Alice's once obedient dolls were now doing everything they could to tear down the whole forest, literally. Most of them were busy ripping up grass and dirt and throwing it into a fire built uncomfortably close to Alice's cottage. Some were dismantling the house piece by piece. The scariest of all, though, were the ones busy laying iron plates over the ripped up ground. Upon closer inspection, she saw that most of the forest behind Alice's house was completely covered in metal, and the trees coming up from that ground were silver. The smoke she saw earlier was coming from slightly deeper into the forest.

"Alice!" She called. "What's going on here?" Then she saw the girl standing across from Alice. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"Irrelevant."

"That's not much of a name."

"That is not my name. You simply do not need to know, therefore it is irrelevant information."

Alice blinked. "You're a cyborg, aren't you?"

"I am not mechanical in any way. I am what you refer to as human."

Alice and Marisa both shuddered. _How is that possible?_ Marisa asked.

"Now that you've shown up, I'll have to kill you too." The girl said, looking dead at Marisa.

Marisa smirked. "Just try it." As if on cue, several of Alice's dolls dropped what they were doing, pulled out there small lances and surrounded her. It was sheer luck that she managed to jump to the side before they stabbed her through. "What? _How?!_" She exclaimed. "Alice why did…" She stopped mid-sentence as she noticed something strange about the dolls. There were small rips in the seams, and through the holes Marisa could barely make out a shifting black mass inside with a very slight green glow. She stared at the girl with the cloud around her. "How?"

"Irrelevant." The dolls began their advance again. This time Marisa was prepared, and a flurry of stars erupted from her, each one knocking out a doll. The problem was that once they were hit, they just kept coming. She finally lost her patience and pulled out a small card.

"Magic Sign: Stardust Reverie!" Several pulses of rainbow colored stars erupted from her position, incinerating the dolls close by her and incapacitating those farther away. When the commotion died down she stared at the other girl with an evil look on her face. _She tried to kill me._

"You are stronger than you look." The girl said. "I underestimated you. I will not make that same mistake again." The cloud of insects around her seemed to speed up. " : Nano Swarm.""

Immediately, the cloud of insects raced toward Marisa. It completely engulfed her, and stinging and burning pains could be felt all over her body. She started trying to swat the things away, but that only made it hurt worse. Alice stood by, unable to do much without her dolls, and tried to stay inconspicuous. In desperation she tried her spellcard again. "Magic Sign: Stardust Reverie!" Blazing lights flashed again, and for a moment, it seemed to have worked. Then the pains came back, even worse than before.

Alice had apparently come out of her shock and regained control of a few of her less damaged dolls. They had their lances out and charged straight at the girl, but were stopped cold by another cloud that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Marisa tried to ignore the pain and come up with some kind of counterattack. The pain was causing her to sweat. That's when she got her answer; something from the swarm landed in a bead of sweat and a tiny explosion could be heard. _Water!_ Marisa thought. She tried to remember some kind of water spell, but just couldn't. Alice tried again. Her dolls, after all, couldn't really feel pain. They came out much more ripped and tattered than before, but still managed to make it to the girl. They charged their lances into her before she could react, and she stepped back in pain. The cloud around Marisa ceased for a moment, and she was able to remember the spell. After a brief moment, a cloud started forming directly above her position, and a small-rain shower started falling. The cloud around her buzzed and cracked, and it fell to the floor, leaving a small heap of black dust around her feet.

The girl had a terrified look on her face. "I… I was told…" she said, sounding rather scared. She had apparently dropped the monotone voice for now. Alice's dolls grabbed her and pinned her down as Marisa released the spell and the rain stopped.

Marisa and Alice walked up to her, and Marisa knelt down to stare into the girl's eyes. "Now tell me who you are."

The girl tried to maintain a straight, emotionless face, but still looked terrified. "Data…" she mumbled quietly.

"Louder."

"Data Signal." She spoke up, but said no more.

"What were those things that attacked us?" Alice asked.

"Nanobots, small machines that I had control over, and you shorted them out with your water." She sounded angry.

"What were you trying to do here?"

That's when something strange happened. An unfamiliar voice shouted "DATA!" Marisa looked up to see someone else floating above the trees. She noticed that Data blanched slightly, despite her already white skin, and was staring at the floating girl with a slight look of horror. "You've been ignoring our summons." The floating girl said accusingly. She had dead white hair tied in a very long ponytail. The ends of her hair glowed various colors of the rainbow, and were constantly shifting. Her eyes were colorless, yet her outfit was… bold. She was wearing a dark purple tank top with disconnected, flowing sleeves of silver, light blue, bell-bottom pants, and what appeared to be sandals with metal soles. "Power happens to like you, so this is your final warning. Return at once or be terminated." She sounded rather upset.

"Who're you?" Marisa asked the floating girl.

"Name's Optic. Who the hell are you?" She replied.

"Marisa Kirisame."

"Pleasure." She didn't sound to enthusiastic. "You comin' or what, Data?"

The white skinned girl started sweating slightly. "Please," she maintained her monotone voice. "If you'll allow me to continue what I was doing I can have these pests eliminated in-"

"You were given an order, human."

"Y-yes, Fibre Optic." _We have her pinned down. How's she gonna go-_ From behind some of the metal trees, large black spheres, each with a green eye in the middle, flew out and hit Marisa with a strong laser blast. She was knocked off, and Data brushed herself off. "For the record," she said to Marisa and Alice, "I could have done that at any time." She waved her hand over a section of metal on her arm, glowed slightly, vanished in a wave of green light, reappearing next to Optic. "We will meet again." And with that, the two flew off.


	7. Heaven Trace: Guardian of the Skies

**Note*** _Man_ I'm a bad story teller. I apologize, this is my first real fanfic. I have more planned, so judge this story based on _story_ and not on _structure._ I'm improving, I swear I am, and my next fanfic won't be nearly as… bad.

* * *

The girl who couldn't remember her name was taken into custody by the kappa. Sanae and Kanako went back to Moriya shrine to try and figure out how to rescue Suwako. Reimu decided to find Marisa. _I hate to admit it, but I need help._

She didn't have to search for very long. Once she started flying over the Forest of Magic, she saw Marisa take off from the trees and tried to catch up to her. Once Marisa saw Reimu coming towards her, she waved and shouted. "You'll never guess what just happened!"

Reimu stopped as she caught up with Marisa. "What?"

"Look down. See for yourself." Both of them did, and Reimu gasped. _Silver trees?_ She thought. Then she got a closer look and saw that they were above Alice's house, which was half metal.

Reimu looked up at Marisa. "What _happened?_"

"Somebody came and took over Alice's dolls and made them start rippin' up the ground and layin' all that metal down. Half of 'em were tearin' down Alice's house and rebuilding it with more metal. I never got the reason why." Marisa stared off into the distance. After a moment, her eyes widened. "What is that?" she asked, looking directly at the huge sphere known as Router.

"Our next destination. I think that's where the ones who've been kidnapped are being held." Reimu started flying in that direction. "Come on! Neither of us can do this alone!"

They were getting close to the blue sphere, which was much larger than it appeared at first, when it happened. A voice played out of nowhere that said "You are trespassing in onExplore territory. Turn back or be destroyed. This is your only warning." With a very loud _buzz_ the voice switched off.

_Trespassing?_ Reimu thought. _You're the ones trespassing in _our_ world!_ She kept flying, knowing she could handle anything that came her way. "Uh, Reimu?" Marisa said. "Shouldn't we be little more careful at this point?" Reimu didn't respond.

She didn't make it far before a girl with grey skin, eyes, and hair materialized several feet in front of her. She was semi-transparent, and her image flickered.

"Prepare to be destroyed." The girl said. It was the same voice as the one Reimu heard earlier. She didn't have time to think much else. A kind of screeching sound could be heard coming from the direction of the sphere.

Marisa, surprisingly, sounded scared. "What's _that?"_ Marisa asked, staring at an object that seemed to be rapidly closing on their position. After a moment they realized that there wasn't just one; there were hundreds. Dots on the horizon, they were, and closing fast. Marisa looked at the grey girl. "Who are you?" It seems that question's become rather common.

"Router's Long-Range Tactical Prevention and Defense System, Codename: Heaven." The voice said.

The dots were close enough now to make out details. They were long, cylinders with pointed tips and wing-like projections coming out of the base. Fire spurted from the back. "I don't think those are bullets…" Reimu said to Marisa.

"The Surface-To-Air Defense missiles converging on your position are the product of your own inability to listen to my warning." The hazy, gray girl distorted and vanished, leaving only the missiles for Reimu and Marisa to deal with. One was closer than the others, and Marisa just barely managed to dodge it before it flew past her. She snarled and turned towards the remaining missiles. In a fiery explosion, stars of all colors erupted from her position. Most of them managed to strike one missile or another, though some just flew off. Every time one missile was hit, it exploded in a great fire ball, the shockwave of which could be felt anywhere close by. Not all of them were destroyed, but Reimu and Marisa managed to dodge them fairly easily. The sound of their screeching through the sky faded as the missiles plunged toward the ground. Marisa smiled at Reimu, and they both let out a nervous laugh.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of it. A massive _thump_ sound came from the sphere, and they just had time to look toward it when a massive metal ball thundered into Marisa. It didn't stop and carried her off into the sky. Reimu didn't have much time to be horrified, as a second ball rammed into her from the back doing the same.

The shock was rather intense, and she blacked out quickly.

* * *

**Note*** Is it just me, or are these chapters getting shorter? While it is true I'm planning on using these OCs in later stories, I'm going to clean up this story first. It may take months, or even years, but I'll get this story up to code eventually. Until then… bear with me.


	8. Living without…

"Sorry to interrupt this late…" the girl was wearing a primarily blue dress that was white at the edges. Her hair was solid white and about waist length. "I just didn't know where else to turn."

"I'm surprised you haven't heard yet. Kaguya-sama was kidnapped two days ago."

Keine stared at the blue and red coated girl before her. "What do you mean she was kidnapped?"

"I mean just what I said." Eirin replied. "I've also heard a rumor that Yuyuko Saigyouji has also been kidnapped, along with Flandre Scarlet and someone named Suwako Moriya."

"Them too…" Keine said after hearing the news. _The list goes on and on…_

"As usual, Reimu-san and Marisa-san should be off solving the problem." Eirin smiled, as did Keine. "This should be sorted out soon enough."

_I still don't know…_ Keine couldn't shake the feeling that something catastrophic was about to happen. Eirin's face suddenly looked worried. "Is anything wrong?" Keine asked.

Eirin shook her head. "I was just wondering… I haven't seen Reisen-san for a while…"

Keine looked worried also. "I'm sure it's fine." She said with a forced smile. "Everything will work out."

Both of them resumed a normal, everyday conversation, each concealing the dread they each felt toward the situation.

_Kaguya, Fujiwara, Yuyuko, Flandre, Suwako… who's next?_

* * *

"I just wasn't sure where else to go…" she said, feeling rather nervous on the balcony of an unfamiliar location. "It seems that Gensokyo may be falling apart at the seams…" She looked up at the pink-clad vampire staring into her eyes. "What are you planning on doing if Reimu-san and Marisa-san can't solve this?"

Remilia smiled, showing one fang as she did so. "I wouldn't worry. If Reimu and Marisa can defeat me, they can solve any problem." The white-haired girl in a green dress didn't look satisfied. "Yuyuko will be back soon, I assure you."

Youmu looked up. "I hope you're right." She started for a moment. "I don't mean to ask you such a personal question…" she paused for a moment. "How strong are you?"

Remilia blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I was just thinking." She looked at the table with the newspaper on it again. "This says that a lot of people have disappeared, but I've noticed that most of the people here are the strongest in Gensokyo."

Remilia laughed. "Perhaps. My little sister is equal to my own strength, though she was probably singled out due to her lack of restraint."

Youmu nodded. _The strongest in Gensokyo…_ "Perhaps they have something they want to do, but require an immense amount of power to do it."

"Perhaps…" Remilia said simply.

_They need something specific… but what?_

* * *

She stared at what remained of her little cottage in the woods. A fair chunk of it had been destroyed and replaced by cold, hard metal. She stared down at the ground where the plates had been laid over the dirt. Her gaze was drawn up to the single tree that had been uprooted and taken away only to be replaced by a shining, silver replica. Dolls lay strewn about, several intact but torn and battered, yet many shredded and almost unrecognizable.

She couldn't shake the feeling that something immense was going on; something of near biblical proportions. _What's going on?_ Alice thought to herself. Her face was slightly flushed, and she found herself panting. It was embarrassing to admit, but she was genuinely frightened. _That… thing couldn't possibly have been human._ She turned her gaze away from the cottage, able to bear the sight no longer. _Where else can I go?_ Knowing that both Reimu and Marisa would be off solving the problem, she and the few dolls she had left started heading towards Scarlet Devil Mansion. _Hopefully they'll accept overnight guests._

* * *

The wind was so strong that it almost blew her parasol away. Her light pink, frilly dress flapped in the hard breeze, and she was worried her hat may eventually fly off. Despite the cold wind, she stared headlong at the intruding, blue orb that hung motionless in the sky, seeming to taunt her, challenge her in every way.

Another girl came up to where she was and blinked. "How'd you get here?" She was wearing a white shirt and deep blue skirt. Her black hat had two peaches hanging from it.

Yukari turned to see Tenshi walking straight towards her. "I wanted a better look…" is all she said.

Tenshi stared at the orb with Yukari. "You've heard of the recent kidnappings, right?" Yukari nodded. "They tried to kidnap me as well." Yukari was startled by the news and stared at Tenshi in shock. "I said tried, not succeeded." Tenshi said, giggling. "It was actually a lot of fun." Her tone lessened and her smile drooped. "But they managed to take Iku…" She blinked, and a small tear ran down her cheek. "It wasn't fair what they did to her. It was at least ten against one."

"They will be stopped." Yukari said simply.

That seemed to comfort Tenshi slightly. They resumed staring, growing more resentful with each passing moment.


	9. Giga Byte: The Weakest Link

Neither Reimu nor Marisa were willing to try and assault the sphere again after that. After a few days, the kidnappings stopped. People stopped seeing the strangers from the now named "blue moon" that hung motionless in the sky day and night. Many others tried to get into the sphere, some even formed alliances and armies, but no one ever made it close to the sphere.

So, Gensokyo adjusted to life without the people who were kidnapped. Some were more affected than others, and the occasional few had to adjust their way of life completely. Each night, Reimu herself would look up at the massive blue orb with the faint green halo around it. It seemed to taunt her with its very presence. She silently swore to herself that everyone who had been kidnapped _would_ be saved.

As time went by, the seasons began to change. The leaves on the trees changed from a brilliant green, to a ruddy yellow, and finally to dark shades of red and brown. It wasn't until the trees were bare that Reimu noticed something: it was still warm outside. Not hot like in the summer, but a pleasant temperature. Normally no one would have noticed, or even cared for that matter, but some who felt rather strongly about the situation almost took it personally.

Reimu was having another staring contest with Router one afternoon when she heard the familiar voice behind her. "I told you." She turned to see Cirno standing a ways behind her. She looked rather upset.

"It seems you were right." Reimu replied. Cirno gave her an angry look. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do. I've tried."

"So, you're giving up?" Cirno snapped back.

Reimu wasn't sure how to respond. Unfortunately, she didn't have to. After a very brief, awkward pause between the two of them, a massive _BOOM_ could be heard coming from the huge blue sphere. They barely had time to notice the giant grey mass before it collided with the ground, sending tremors throughout Gensokyo, smack into the middle of the Forest of Magic. Thick, grey smoke could be seen rising from the crash site.

Reimu sprang into action, taking off into the air and zooming toward the crash site. Cirno shouted something behind her, but Reimu didn't hear what it was or care enough to go back.

When she arrived, she nearly fainted. An entire of forest had somehow been turned into metal. The trees, the grass, everything had been converted to a shining grey-silver color. She eventually came to a clearing and couldn't believe her own eyes. Alice's cottage, which had once only been half metal, was now completely silver.

After a moment, she realized Alice was not too far off. She was cringing on the ground in front of someone Reimu didn't recognize; she was wearing a skin-tight, black jumpsuit with metal bars running all over her body. She had white skin, green eyes, and messy black hair. The air around her was covered in a kind of black haze, and several large, spherical objects floated around her. She was holding some kind of device and pointing toward Alice's head. Evidently, it was a weapon of some kind. "Be thankful this is all you get." She said in an incredibly monotone voice. "There are others with worse fates than yours."

This was when several events happened all at once. First, a sudden stream of light came from deeper in the metal forest; a blazing laser in a rainbow of colors. It struck the girl from the side, knocking her to the ground… several feet away. Marisa emerged from the shadows of the metal forest. "Am I late?"

No one had time to answer. Second, a kind of glowing, blue orb shot out of the forest from the left and hit Marisa square in the face. Another girl emerged from the same direction; the same girl Reimu noticed fighting Sanae at Moriya Shrine. They had time to say "You!" to each other before the third event happened.

Utsuho Reiuji of all people flew out of the forest behind the girl and started grappling with her. They flew for a while and went into the forest on the opposite side.

Reimu had time after that to assess the situation. Marisa was lying on the ground, cloudy-eyed and rubbing her head. The girl that was originally threatening Alice was also lying on the ground, small lines of electricity flashing around her. Assorted screams and blows could be heard from the direction that Utsuho and her partner had gone.

A few silent moments passed before Utsuho was knocked out of the forest. The girl she was fighting with walked calmly out of the forest, chuckling to herself. Utsuho snarled and almost yelled "Who are you?"

"My friends call me Gig. I am Third Processor of Router and Command Chain Three of onExplore." Her eyes gleamed a kind of neon green and Reimu could almost feel the air grow slightly warmer as she drew near. She raised one arm. Panels and switches seemed to move all over arm, changing it into something else. Reimu could barely see inside her arm; there were no bones or muscles, only metal. When the shifting was done, her arm had been transformed into a perfect cylinder with a ring floating around it.

Utsuho stood up and aimed her control rod at Gig. "You've messed with the wrong raven. Prepare to feel the wrath of the sun!"

Gig only laughed. "Nuclear energy, really?" She glanced around for a moment. "Honestly, this Gensokyo place has such great potential. Don't put your faith in something with such a low output."

"Why you…" Utsuho was reaching critical. "Explosion Sign: Mega Flare!" Never mind, she had hit critical. Pure fire and energy poured forth from the front of her control rod, bathing Gig in a stream of yellow light. When the ray faded and the smoke cleared, Gig stood there still, unscathed.

She laughed one more time. "You don't know half of what science is capable of!" She took off into the air. "Now witness the power of a thousand suns; the power of a super nova; the absolute epitome of physics itself!" She then aimed _her_ arm cannon at Utsuho. The stream that poured forth was not yellow but glistening white. For 30 full seconds, time seemed to stop. Reimu's vision blurred and she slowly lost consciousness.

* * *

**Note*** Okay, I have some explaining to do. No, I did not rush this chapter out in one day. In fact, it took me a week to write. The only reason it was released almost immediately after a previous one is because I like to have finished chapters stockpiled so I can update at least once a week. I just finished chapter 11, so I figured posting 9 now wouldn't be too bad. I think I'm improving, so bear with me just a little longer.


	10. The Iron Labyrinth

**Note*** I'm waiting no longer. I apologize for late updates, but I've started rewriting the story. I won't replace the chapters until all of them have been rewritten, but you will continue to get updates on the less than pleasing style I'm writing in.

* * *

A very loud bang woke her up. The vibrations from the _thump_ knocked her off of the metal bunk she was laying on and onto the cold, hard metal floor. She could hear a voice screaming to her left. "Damn it! No cage can hold me!"

Reimu blink and cleared her vision. She looked to her left but saw only a wall. After a moment she realized that the voice sounded familiar. "Yu… Yuuka?"

"So you're finally awake." Yuuka's voice was irritated and slightly cracked, yet somehow still kept that calm, intimidating inflection that struck fear into the hearts of human and youkai alike. A voice that Reimu found slightly dramatic, but not scary. "Maybe you can get them to say something other than 'unnecessary information'."

Reimu was still slightly dazed and didn't respond. She took a moment to survey her surroundings. She was completely enclosed in cold, hard metal. There was one rectangle jutting out from one of the walls; the bunk she fell out of. One wall was comprised of metal bars interlocking horizontally and vertically. Nothing that resembled a door could be seen. Through the slits she could make out a half-lighted corridor running sideways in front of the cell.

Echoing footsteps slowly made themselves heard. Yuuka remained silent, and Reimu decided it may be best to do the same. A humanoid figure walked by the cell and Reimu almost had a heart attack. The thing had dark, metallic skin that almost seemed to shine black. Their eyes were shaped normally, but contained no irises or pupils; just a sea of green. It was bald and wore some kind of white jumpsuit with bare feet, though the metallic coating and lack of toes gave the feet a very shoe-like quality. It glared at her for a moment, then soundlessly walked by, footsteps continuing to sound down the hall.

"What _was_ that?" Reimu asked, slightly more exasperated than she meant to.

"They call it a drone." Yuuka replied. "I suppose you could say they're the equivalent to fairies in Gensokyo. I don't know what they are, but there's a lot of them."

Another one, or perhaps the same one, walked by in the opposite direction. Reimu stood up and tried to get this one's attention. "Where are we?" Reimu asked in a demanding tone of voice.

The drone stopped altogether and turned to face her. "Unnecessary information." It said in a very metallic voice.

Reimu tried to keep her cool. "Why are we being held here?"

"Unnecessary information."

"How long are we to be held captive?"

"Unnecessary-"

It was cut off midsentence by Yuuka's screaming voice. "We get it already! You won't tell us anything!"

"- information." The drone completed his thought without even glancing in Yuuka's direction.

As it walked off, Yuuka screamed. "I'll go _crazy_ if I have to stay in here one more minute!" Reimu could see flashes of several colors and feel thumps and bangs aplenty coming from Yuuka's cell.

Reimu decided to approach the situation with a more level head. She took note of her surroundings again, looking for details she might have missed. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anything. Curious, she stepped back and shot a small flurry of amulets at the caged wall. The amulets that touched the metal turned black and fell to the ground in a pile of ashes. The ones that managed to slip through the small cracks simply vanished in a puff of yellow smoke. Since this was obviously not going to work, she turned to the other, solid walls of her cell. They seemed to not only feel cold, but to _radiate_ it as well.

Her final observation: there was no escape; or so she thought. She was surprised when she noticed a rather large group of identical looking drones running past her cell at incredible speed. Shouting and banging could be heard down the long metal corridor, and bright flashes of light materialized from time to time.

It wasn't long before a very bright, and very familiar blast of pure energy blew down the hallway, engulfing it in a rainbow of colors. After a few silent moments, Marisa of all people struts into the hallway, looks straight at Reimu, waves, and says "Yo."

Reimu gives her a half-hearted look, which quickly changes to frustration. "Hi. Can you get me out of here?"

Marisa pulls out her mini-hakkero, still smoking, and points it at Reimu. "You might wanna duck." Reimu did so, and not long after her cell was bathed in that searing hot light that Marisa prized so much. When the light cleared, Reimu stood up to see a very annoyed looking Marisa. The front of her mini-hakkero was scorched and black, looking almost unusable now. "Crap."

Reimu simply walked out of the cell and looked around. The light was dim, and it didn't help that she was just staring at a bright laser. "Where are we? What's going on?" Instead of an answer, she got a blaring alarm that tore at her eardrums. Red lights began flashing everywhere, almost draining out all other color.

"We'll talk on the way. Come on!" Marisa grabbed Reimu by the wrist and started running. She caught a brief glimpse behind her and thought she saw two familiar figures behind them, though she didn't have time to make out exactly who it was.

* * *

"Long story short, we were dragged onto the huge sphere, thrown in those cells, and that's that." Marisa's voice was barely audible over the sirens and buzzers, but Reimu managed to make out what she was saying.

"Who was the one that brought us up here?" Reimu asked between gasps.

"That Gig person." They continued running until they came to a very large, mostly empty room. Scratch that, the room itself was as larger than the Scarlet Devil Mansion and easily six stories higher. Catwalks and pathways ran this way and that through the empty space, leading to several openings and doors in the walls. Drones, hundreds of them, walked to and fro all throughout the pathways. From the ceiling drooped a massive rod that gave off a very green color. Aside from that rod, the entire room seemed to glow blue, and the red flashing lights seemed to only be behind them.

Reimu finally got a chance to look behind her. She was slightly surprised to see Alice and Okuu, staring incredulously at the mighty green rod in the center of the room. Marisa was staring down to a floor that could not be seen. Only faint blue light fading downward was present underneath them.

"What does this thing run on…?" Okuu mumbled to herself.

That remark was met with Alice snapping "Focus, bird-brain!"

Okuu didn't look too happy about that, but she didn't have time to respond. Dozens of drones started rounding the corner behind them and followed in pursuit. They didn't get very far before being incinerated in a bright pink light that highly resembled Marisa'a Master Spark.

Yuuka, red faced and tattered, rounded the corner. She was breathing rather heavily. "You left me." She said quietly. "You didn't spare me a second thought and just left me there."

"Can we talk about this later?" Marisa said anxiously. "For now, let's focus on escaping." The drones seemed to stop coming for a while, and they all decided to walk instead of run. Each was rather tired, so no one complained.

* * *

After what felt like an hour of wandering, Alice finally voiced a question they all had. "Okay, _how_ are we getting past all these… drones you called them?" Reimu nodded. "… without getting caught?"

Marisa waved her hand in front of one the passing by drones, being careful not to obstruct of touch it in any way. It didn't respond at all. "How come we were being chased by them before, but not now?"

No one knew the answer, so the question remained unsatisfied. Endlessly they walked, through room upon room, over walkway upon walkway, dodging drone after drone after drone. It quickly seemed like they would be stuck inside this massive floating sphere for quite a while.

It was a scream that awoke their senses. A high. Slightly forced scream that echoed through the rooms, making it difficult to track its source. A chill ran down everyone's spine when they finally recognized who it was.

Patchouli Knowledge was somewhere close by.


	11. Malware Science: Inventor of Madness

It took several minutes to finally pinpoint where the screams originated. The group managed to trace the sounds back to a gateway that didn't match the others that they saw. _Hopefully,_ Reimu thought, _this'll lead somewhere other than more empty rooms._ The door was completely flat and had no indication of any kind of handle. Yuuka stepped toward it and it slid open on its own, startling all five of them briefly. They exchanged a nervous glance, then took off running into the inky blueness.

It wasn't long before a voice could be heard. It was unfamiliar and sounded distinctly human, but had a kind of edge to it, with a hesitant pattern of speech. It didn't sound very friendly or sane. "Hm. So the rats have broken out of their cages."

Yuuka seemed to take this as a personal offense. "Trust me, whoever you are, you'll regret saying that."

The voice laughed maniacally. Whoever it belonged to definitely was _not_ sane. "I'll introduce myself then! Good luck to all five of you!"

The ground began to tremble. That didn't stop the rag-tag group of five from advancing, but soon they wished it had. They came into another large room, though this one seemed much lower and rounded into a dome ceiling. There was a large dais in the center on which rested very tall pieces of equipment. Screens flashed, lights blinked, and whirring and buzzing could be heard everywhere. Sitting in a chair in the center of it all was a woman. The group could only see the back of her red, shoulder length, wiry hair.

The same maniacal laugh could be heard. The woman turned in her chair to face the group. She was stunningly beautiful, to say the least. Her eyes were large and hazel, magnified by the very thick spectacles that rested heavily on her nose. She was smiling, and her bright white teeth contrasted with her bright red lips. She was dressed in a closed lab coat with black buttons running all the way down and a pair of black leather boots. She very skinny and had rather large…

Moving along now. A sudden surge of electricity could be heard behind her, accompanied by that same scream. In a large, glass vial behind the woman lay Patchouli, bruised and half asleep. There was a kind of purple tint to the air inside the vial.

"I was wondering when someone would show up." The woman stood up and placed on hand on her hip. "I wasn't expecting you five, though. The vampire, or at least her maid, should have appeared, considering we're holding two of their group."

Okuu pointed her control rod right at the woman. "You have five seconds to tell us who you are before I blow a hole in this place."

That same, chilling maniacal laugh. Even Yuuka seemed to shutter whenever she heard it. "I'm so glad you have such spirit! Allow me to introduce myself, then." She bowed very low. "I am Malware Science. I'm head of the research department and responsible for creating and testing new technologies." She glanced at Patchy in the tube. "Including this one."

Marisa looked like she was about to snap. Yuuka shoved her parasol in front of her. "It's nice to know you have such confidence." She slowly opened it, moving it in front of her as she did so. "Now, goodbye." Another stream of pinkish light poured forth from Yuuka's parasol.

The light never came close to Malware. A hexagonal patterned wall suddenly materialized as it came into contact with the ray, only to vanish shortly after contact was broken. Malware stared Yuuka dead in the eyes. "You're pretty powerful aren't you?" Yuuka wasn't sure how to respond. "Oh, I know all about you; about all five of you. Anything onExplore doesn't know, we learn. Everything we learn, we all know."

Another flash of electricity. Reimu managed to glance into the vial during the flash. Lines of electricity were jumping incredibly fast within it. That wasn't the scary part. A kind of rainbow stream, barely visible, was slowly seeping out of Patchouli's skin and into a kind of vent in the top of her vial. She didn't have the energy to scream this time. "What are you doing to her?"

Malware frowned. "Do you honestly think I'd tell you? Besides, I've been ordered to keep all experimental technologies a secret, even from Terra."

Reimu heard Alice mutter the word "Terra…" to herself, but Reimu didn't really care. "Then we'll have to beat the answer out of you."

"Perfect!" Malware looked excited. "I _love_ a challenge! Oh, do be a bit harder than that boundary person we managed to capture a while ago!"

"Boundary…" _She must mean Yukari! But… how could they have possibly…_ Music started playing. It was dark and electronic, yet still rather fast.

"Now let's get things started." She did a minor backflip back to her chair and slammed her fist down on a large, red button. Several holes in the wall slid open, and missiles began to pour out. Reimu and Marisa both became worried at this point.

It was Yuuka who came to the rescue. As each missile drew near, Yuuka placed her parasol in front of it. The missile simply bounced away. The problem was that with so many missiles and counting, Yuuka was dedicated to keeping them all alive, a role Reimu was shocked to see her take. Okuu wasted no time. She took off into the air and flew straight at Malware. Once she came into contact with the force field, the hexagonal pattern appeared again. Okuu didn't bounce off; she just kept trying to shove herself through the field. Marisa and Reimu were both trying to find some weakness in their opponent, while Alice was helping Yuuka. It was unusual to see Alice holding her own without any dolls, but it served to remind them that Alice was much stronger than she looked.

Malware started to look bored after a few moments. "You won't break through it that way." She said to Okuu. With a brief sigh, she flipped a few switches and hit another button. "You people bore me. At least the boundary person could actually attack me." A sudden blow to her head broke her bored mood. She looked up to see Reimu staring her in the eye.

Reimu smiled. "Yukari's not the only one who knows a thing or two about boundaries." She backed up as far as she could without touching for force field and sent out several amulets. Malware smiled and didn't even attempt to dodge. She pulled out a small, hexagonal device from her pocket and waved her hand over it. As each amulet came close to her, it was encased in a green hexagon and vaporized.

"You're running out of time, you know." Malware said with a sneer. "The room is filling with poisonous gas as we speak. You only have about a minute before you pass out."

Reimu didn't respond. She sent another flurry of bullets. Malware jumped back and eliminated them the same way as before. Reimu turned her attention to the devices around her. _That's it!_ She thought as an epiphany struck. Rather than aiming for Malware, she started destroying all the equipment she could find.

The color drained from Malware's face. She started glancing around feverishly. Reimu looked up and noticed that her force field that was holding Okuu back was vanishing. A sound like glass breaking sounded as Okuu broke through and pointed her control rod at Malware, releasing a yellow blast of fire her way. Malware dodged with ease.

The battle deteriorated from there. With the equipment trashed, the missiles stopped coming, however the hiss of the gas leak had gotten louder. A smell like rotten eggs became rather prevalent. Nobody was paying attention to that, though. Danmaku from all five of them flew through the air. Malware, despite being unable to fly, managed to dodge everything. She almost seemed to be dancing through the storm, all the while singing "Ah, the flying danmaku seems like music in the air! 'Cause I'm the brilliant scientist although I don't play fair! It's much more fun, you must agree, when lives are on the line! Not mine of course, but _yours_ my friends, now _that_ would be just fine!" . Eventually she reached a lever on the wall that had escaped Reimu's notice before. Malware let out a triumphant laugh and started to pull the switch, but was hit in the side by Okuu first. The handle of the switch broke off.

Malware was apparently very startled by the angry Okuu that was now pinning her down and the yellow control rod that was virtually shoved into her face. Okuu was breathing heavily, as were the other four. Reimu walked up to her a knelt down, staring into her eyes. "What are you doing to Patchy?"

Malware looked at Reimu, looked at the control rod one more time, and sighed. "I guess you win." She said with a scowl. "We're sucking every drop of magic energy from her body and using it to fuel Router."


	12. Where are we exactly?

**Note*** I'm not that into fan pairings in the Touhou series. Zun describes Alice as someone with a lack of interest in others and a slight annoyance at most of them. I choose to go by that description. Also, since fan-pairings don't really apply in this fic, Alice and Patchouli have no reason to be against each other. Just a heads up.

**Note 2*** Sorry about the late update. School just started. You know how it is.

* * *

Both Yuuka and Okuu were tasked with guarding the miffed Malware while Reimu, Marisa, and Alice inspected the somewhat broken equipment in search if a way to free Patchy. The inside of the vial was smoky and constantly seemed to shift color. Patchy was lying in a heap on the ground, unconscious. It looked like she was having some trouble breathing, and her asthma could not be helping. Everyone was painfully aware of the hissing of the gas leak in the background, and the smell was getting stronger. They needed to get out of there and fast.

"Any luck?" Alice said to the others who were sifting through the rubble. Each of them shook their heads. She turned and continued looking. There were a few labels, but each was written in a script that Alice didn't recognize. They didn't even look like any language she knew about.

After a minute, Marisa found something. "What about this?" She was kneeling by the control panel that they first found Malware standing by. It was in pieces, but one large, red lever hidden inside a half-destroyed compartment remained intact. Marisa looked over to the guarded Malware. "What does this do?"

"Blows up the entire sphere." Malware sounded serious enough, but even Okuu knew she was lying. Yuuka bumped her on the head with her parasol. Malware sighed and looked down. "Fine. It's the emergency cut-off switch. If you pull it, this whole room and the adjacent hallways will be stripped of power." Marisa smiled and motioned to pull it. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Malware said very fast, almost sounding nervous.

Reimu gave her a questioning look. "Why not?"

Beads of sweat started forming on Malware's forehead. "Power is hooked into every system. If this one loses power, then she'll come to investigate. If you five don't kill me, Power surely will.

"Then why don't we get it over with now?" Yuuka said with an evil smile on her face, pointing her parasol directly at Malware's head.

Malware actually started laughing. "If you think you can defeat Power, you're insane. She'd wipe the floor with you in no time."

"Who's Power?" Alice asked. Reimu gave the four of them a basic rundown of what she had been told at the base of Youkai Mountain. Alice looked over to Malware, confused. "You kept referring to Power as a she."

It took a moment for Malware to answer. "You'll see what I mean when you meet her." Nobody was really satisfied with the answer, but at that point, nobody really cared. Marisa started coughing uncontrollably, and Reimu started to see spots in her vision. Evidently, similar things were happening to the rest of them, including malware. "Are you planning on doing anything about this gas leak, then?"

"How do we turn it off?" Reimu asked Malware.

"I'd die before I helped you with anything."

Yuuka finally snapped. "I can't _take_ this anymore!" She channeled all her strength into one blast of energy and released a Master Spark on the vial holding Patchy. Luckily, it was above where she was actually laying. When the light faded, a good sized hole, red at the edges, was punched in the vial. The rainbow smoke remained motionless, though Patchy began gasping a bit more. "There. Now we can leave."

All five of them took off running, and Okuu grabbed Patchy on the way. They virtually forgot about Malware, who was gone when Reimu turned around. They kept running down one of the dimly lighted hallways, not paying much attention to where they were going. There was a sealed door ahead of them. Marisa simply held out her mini-hakkero, which at this point had gotten a decent cool-down, and unloaded a Master Spark. When they burst from the hall, they realized they weren't in the same place as before. This area had a much more… rural feel to it. The ceiling was only a few stories high, and towers filled with windows were frequent and clustered together. Pathways that resembled roads weaved in between them. Reimu could here a few screams and shuffles before realizing that they were in some kind of village. Many of the windows were lit, and through some open ones, Reimu could hear people talking, even laughing, with one another.

_Where… are we?_ Reimu thought. Her answer was another blaring alarm and more red, flashing lights. Marisa let slip a rather foul word and started running, motioning the others to do the same. Reimu wasn't sure Marisa knew quite where she was going, but due to her lack of other ideas, and since everyone else followed Marisa anyway, Reimu took off after the group. She happened to glance behind her and found a blurry image of some kind of hulking… thing chasing them. An echoing, grinding sound could be heard from a ways behind her. Reimu realized she was slowing down and sprinted to catch up to everyone else. "Any idea where we're going?"

Okuu, still carrying Patchy in her left arm, pointed to a metal grated platform with her control rod. "There!" They all bounded onto the platform just as it started rising off the ground. "We use lifts like these in the reactor. Same basic principal." She got that same slightly distant look in her eye and surveyed the area. "What does this thing run on?"

"We can figure it out later." Alice almost snapped. "I know this lift saved our life from that… thing, but…" She stared up into the tunnel they appeared to be being lifted into. "Does anyone know where this thing goes?"


	13. Knights in a Gun Fight

**Note*** Hm. I think I am getting better at this. I hope this doesn't jinx anything. Anyway, two new characters. Enjoy.

* * *

The tube they ended up in was completely sealed off by the lift floor. Small lights dotted the walls of the tube at far intervals. Only darkness lie above them, and with each passing moment all five of them grew more and more restless. No one said anything the entire trip.

A muffled voice could slowly be heard as the lift moved up. "… of the Defense Board. Repeat: Heaven's core personality file has been severely corrupted. The backup is failing, and immediate repairs are necessary. Orders have been sent to all members of the Defense Board." As the voice became clearer, they could see that, while muffled and overlaid with slight static, it sounded quite young, almost like Cirno's. "Rolling brown-outs are expected until further notice. All drones from sector 8-B…" There was a brief pause and what sounded like muffled conversation. "What do you mean…?" More muffled sounds. "Yes I know but…" Muffled screams. "Wait, they're here right now?" Feedback and tapping sounds. "How was I supposed…?" Brief silence. "Woops." A click and the voices could no longer be heard.

All five of them exchanged glances, not trusting themselves to speak. No one needed to since Patchouli started moaning. Okuu placed her gently on the grated floor and everyone stared. Patchy's deep, purple eyes fluttered open slowly. Her head shook slowly and she coughed, sitting up as she did so. She supported her head with one arm. "Where… am I?" she said softly.

"It's a long, tragic, and rather involved story." Marisa said with a chuckle. "To sum up: you were kidnapped by crazy mechanical people, we rescued you, and now we're running for our lives in a giant blue moon hovering above Gensokyo." Patchy seemed to take the news rather well. After a moment her eyes rolled back and she fainted again. Okuu looked at Marisa. "She's never had the best health." Marisa said. "That's usually the result of only going outside once every hundred years."

After several more silent moments, the lift finally emerged into a rather small room compared to the others they've seen. It was octagonal, and each of the eight walls had a door that was closed. It was rather bright, as the entire ceiling seemed to be one huge light. A rather young looking girl dressed in camo-print cargo shorts, a light blue T-shirt, and black jacket was smiling at them showing silver teeth. Her eyes were big and bright, but seemed flat, as though they were screens, not genuine eyes. She obviously wasn't human, a fact that was only confirmed by the fact that each of her joints, shoulders, elbows, etc., were exposed as metal hinges and pulleys. "Nice to finally meet you." The girl said in a slightly auto-tuned voice. She stepped into the light, making a massive sword behind her visible. It was completely blue and hard to see on the dark blue background. "I didn't expect you to escape the drones. You all are truly powerful."

"Who are you talking to?" A second voice, almost identical, spoke up from behind one of the doors. It slid open revealing another girl, physically identical to the first but wearing several layers of what appeared to be body armor and a long, camo-print skirt. Her eyes were only half open, and she looked somewhat tired. She had that same sword strapped to her back, but something about it was… off. Reimu couldn't put her finger on what it was. Her expression became shocked when she saw the group of five standing across from her. "Random… who are these people?"

"The intruders I told you about." Random said with an evil smile. She turned to face the group. "Well, I suppose we'd better get things started." She reached behind her and drew her massive sword. That's when Reimu realized what was wrong with it. It was only half of a sword, as though someone had taken it and chopped it down the middle.

The other girl sleepily drew her half of the sword and yawned. "Do we have to?" Her sword seemed to immediately fill with a green glow.

"Read, you're so lazy!" Random snapped. "Let's just get this over with."

"Very well."

Random was the one to attack first. She charged in, faster than she seemed to be able to, and swung. Luckily, they all jumped out of the way in time. Marisa pulled out a small card and was prepared to utter a spell, when the card seemed to jump out of her hand. She glanced at the card as it flew away. Read was smiling, simply standing still with her eyes closed, holding her massive half-sword out in front of her.

Things seemed to be happening that should otherwise be impossible for the duo. Random was simply too fast, and seemed to have an infinite supply of energy. Read only stood there, untouched and protected by Random. They both seemed to be having a good time. Okuu tried to get behind Read, but was stopped by Random, who seemed to be in two places at once. She was zipping from place to place so fast, releasing so many perfectly executed attacks. It finally came down to Marisa not being able to take it anymore. She pulled out her mini-hakkero (again) and let loose on Random, who dodged with ease. At the last second, before the master spark fully disappeared, she aimed at Read, who wasn't hit with much energy, but was knocked off her feet and into a wall. Immediately after Read was hit, a spark flew from one of Random's joints and she crashed to the floor.

Read picked herself up off the floor and glared angrily at Random. "What are you _doing?"_ She snapped.

"What _I'm_ doing?" Random shouted back. "How stingy could you get?"

"Stingy? I'm trying to keep us both alive!"

"You're going to kill us both if you keep holding back!"

"Your job is to protect me!"

"Your job is to power _me!"_

"Excuse me." Silence as the new voice spoke up. Everyone turned to see Patchouli now conscious and sitting up in the lift, watching with half-closed eyes. "What is this all about between you two?"

Surprisingly, Random answered immediately. "We were built to be two halves of a superweapon. My partner, Read Only, was built to be able to store immense amounts of data and programs. I, Random Access, was built to be the one to execute those programs. We are supposed to be stronger than even Power, but I can't very well execute many programs if my _partner_ doesn't provide me with any."

Read ignored her. "We have to keep each other alive. I store the programs that keep us both alive, but can't run either of them. She can't store any programs, but runs the essential background tasks for both of us."

Throughout the entire conversation, Alice had stealthily made her way behind the pair, across from Reimu. Yuuka and Marisa were flanking them from the sides, and Okuu looked ready to aim and fire at any moment. Alice was feeling around "You two don't get along, do you?" Patchouli asked.

Her answer was Read and Random glaring at each other, then quickly looking the other direction in a huff. "I still say you would have been fine without any more." Read said.

Random gave her a dirty look. "I was barely able to do anything with what you gave me!"

"My whole job is to store."

Alice found a switch and one of the doors slid open with a slight whirr. Neither Read nor Random noticed. They continued arguing as the group of six, since Patchouli was now able to walk herself, snuck quietly out of the room. The door slid shut behind them, and Read and Random's muffled argument could be heard vaguely through it.

* * *

Random Access – Obnoxious Executioner

Read Only – Mostly Living Storage Tank

* * *

**Note*** I may be a bit late with some updates. What with school starting and all that, I don't have as much time as I used to. I will keep writing though.


	14. Over the Intercom

**Note*** Sorry I was late with this update. The next may come much later. School and other time constraints haven't given me much time to sit down and write. I'll do my best, though.

* * *

The rest of the complex they had to navigate was dimly lit. After a while, it looked as though they were going in circles. It didn't help that most of the corridors and rooms all looked identical. To top it off, signs were plastered all over the place, but they each were written in that strange script that no one recognized.

"Wait…" Yuuka gave a good look around the room they just entered. "We were _just_ here!" She almost shouted.

"Can you keep your voice down, please?" Alice snapped.

"Does anyone remember which way we went last time?" Okuu asked.

Patchouli pointed off to their right. "We turned that way last time." No one doubted her word and bolted to the left. "Wait!" Patchy said. "Utsuho, scorch the floor next to the right door we took before." Okuu gave her a confused look, but did as she was told.

Marisa smiled and nodded. "Lemme guess; we're going to turn right at every fork and mark it. When we come to one of our marks, we try a different way."

"Exactly." Patchy then pointed to their left. "This way is next."

From there they began making progress. They weren't sure where they were going or what they were looking for, but they knew one thing: Gensokyo was below them and they had to go _down._

Eventually they came to a series of rooms that moved from the standard blue color scheme and became a more ruddy brown. The lights became much more frequent and bright, yellow like the sun. The passages soon became narrow to the point where they all had to walk single file. Pipes lined the walls and roof and twisted every which way. The floor became grated and through the holes they could see drones and humans busy at work on various tasks. They emerged into an empty room that, again, was absolutely massive. It had a huge domes roof and seemed completely empty.

A very loud roaring sound startled them all, and they each dove behind a nearby piece of equipment. They looked toward the end of the huge room to find one of the walls sliding up. Their spirits brightened when they saw sky, sunlight, and the vague horizon lined with trees outside. Their excitement was short-lived, however, when a massive, cylindrical object, easily 3 times the size of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, flew in through the opening and landed in the huge empty room. A whistle sounded and dozens if not hundreds of drones poured in from various doorways. They immediately began switching things out, taking things off, putting things on, cleaning the outside, and going in to inspect the inside.

Marisa suddenly gasped. Reimu mouthed "What?"

Marisa pointed to a group of two talking next to the giant ship. "The one with the white hair… she stopped Data from destroying Alice's house." Reimu and Marisa both looked back at Alice, who was clawing at the hunk of metal she was hiding behind and grinding her teeth. "You'll get your chance."

Reimu looked again and got just as angry as Alice. "Did you see who she was talking to?"

Marisa looked again and her jaw dropped. It was Gig.

"Any idea how to get past these things?" Okuu asked the group.

Everyone exchanged glances, then looked at Patchouli. "Give me a minute." She said with an irritated edge in her voice.

They all simply hid behind their pieces of equipment, waiting for the right moment to escape. Patchouli was frantically looking around for some weakness they could exploit. Over time, the room slowly emptied until only Fibre and Gig remained standing, still locked in some kind of conversation. A staticy voice that filled the room interrupted them. "This wing is being shut down for now. Please vacate the premises." All six of them looked up and behind them to see a tinted window, behind which the silhouette of someone stood. They all realized that whoever was up there could probably see them easily, though must not have noticed.

Fibre and Gig made an unflattering gesture and left the room. The door echoed closed behind them.

Before anybody could move, the voice picked up again. "You can come out of hiding now. Don't be shy." Nobody moved. "Maybe this will sway your opinions." A huge door slid open on the ship that just pulled in and a huge, two-wheeled vehicle that resembled a motorcycle from the outside world only much larger) slid out. It was completely black, and the middle was continually spinning around. It stopped once it was fully out of the ship and a small hatch opened on its roof. A huge vial shot up from hatch, and inside was Yuyuko Saigyouji. Without thinking, all six of them jumped up and started running towards the vehicle. "Ah ah ah!" The vial shot back inside the vehicle, the hatch closing almost before it finished.

All six of them stopped and stared up at the tinted window far above them. The only thing they could make out was a shadow. Marisa mumbled something under her breath and aimed her mini-hakkero, but was stopped by Yuuka's parasol. Yuuka shook her head.

"Well, I suppose there's no use in delaying any longer." The wall on the far side of the room opened again, revealing the outside to them. They were each tempted to simply bolt, but were held back by the knowledge that someone out to kill them was controlling that wall. "I haven't had a decent opponent for years. I've seen what this magic is capable of, so I hope for a substantial challenge."

"What do you want?" Marisa asked in a very irritated voice.

"A race." Was the reply. Yuuka blanched slightly at the mention of the word "race." "Simply beat me in a race and you're free to go. Lose, and I'll alert the entire city to your presence. Those drones you fought off before didn't make up 1% of the drones we have waiting."


	15. Port Forward: Sound-Breaking Daredevil

**Note*** Sorry about the late update. School's been rather demanding and writer's block doesn't help. :/

* * *

No one really thought they had a choice, though no one was brave enough to answer. After a moment of strained silence, the voice came up again. "I'll take your stunned silence as a yes." The 6 could barely make out the silhouette step away from the blurry window above them. There was another, extended moment of nothing but the sound of Patchouli's strained breathing. A sudden roar and quake of the ground beneath them knocked Reimu, Marisa, and Patchy to their feet. The silhouette appeared again, quickly, and her voice actually sounded scared. "Sorry about that. Nothing to worry about." Yet another moment of silence. "Where were we?" The silhouette left again, and this time soft footsteps could be heard off in an unknown direction.

The motorcycle next to them suddenly sprang to life and drove over to a nearby door. They could hear someone enter the vehicle, but it was large enough to conceal the figure completely. The motorcycle closed up and moved into position just in front of the open hatchway leading to the sky over Gensokyo. Yuuka stepped back a little and said "So which one of us is racing?"

The voice came from the motorcycle this time, and it was clear and without static. "All of you are. Otherwise, I alert the entire city that you're here."

"I was afraid of that…" Yuuka mumbled, too quiet for anyone to hear.

"Not all of us _can _race." Alice said, glancing at Patchouli as she did so.

A sigh came from the motorcycle. "I guess it can't be helped." There was a brief pause. "You in the black and… you in the red and white." Reimu and Marisa exchanged glances. "You two are my competitors." They knew they didn't have a choice, so they walked up next to the motorcycle. Through a tinted grey window, they could make out the silhouette again, this time much clearer. The silhouette wasn't that big, and there seemed to be extensions stretching out backwards from it. "The rest of you are to stay put."

Utsuho seemed to get slightly offended. "And if we don-" she was cut off mid-sentence. The massive ship in the center of the room was now pointing a dish of some kind at the startled group of four. The air around them seemed to shimmer and vibrate, and each of them stood absolutely frozen in their places.

"They're not going anywhere." The voice from the motorcycle said. "Now then, about the rules. It's fairly simple really; we're going to make 100 full circles around Router. The first one to make it back to this area wins. And don't worry about Heaven; she's under repairs at the moment."

"100 laps?" Marisa asked with an un-amused look on her face. "Isn't Router rather large?"

"Anything less and it would be over too quickly." Neither Reimu nor Marisa really believed the voice, but since they seemed to be completely at its mercy, they went along anyway. "Just to be fair, you two go on ahead. I'll give you a 60-second head start."

They didn't wait to think about it. After a brief nod, Reimu and Marisa both took off into the air. They took a sharp left and started grazing along the sphere. It was large enough that, from their perspective, they were flying along a perfectly flat wall. Reimu glanced over at Marisa and noticed that she was bobbing and struggling a little bit. "You okay?" Reimu asked over the rush of wind.

Marisa managed to stabilize herself and sighed. "I haven't flown without my broom in years." Her expression suddenly came confused. "Wait, why don't we just leave now? Who's gonna know?" Reimu hesitated.

"I will." The voice startled them both. The motorcycle almost seemed to appear next to them, driving along the wall, keeping perfect pace with them. Through tinted black glass, Yuyuko's blue outfit could just barely be seen. "Well, I suppose I should be going. See you in about two seconds." The motorcycle sped away before either of them could respond. Within two seconds, it was back by their side. "You're now one lap behind." And the motorcycle sped off again, passing them again in even, two second intervals.

Reimu and Marisa needed to think fast. "I still say let's bolt!" Marisa said.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The motorcycle pulled up and kept pace again. "Heaven may be under repairs, but the secondary defense grid is still active, and I managed to hijack it for myself for this occasion. Leave and you will be destroyed." The motorcycle sped away again. Reimu lost count of the laps they were behind, but she guessed somewhere around 20 or 30.

40 times and they still had no plan.

50 times and they were starting to panic.

60 times and Marisa shouted "_That's it!"_ She pulled out her ever-useful mini-hakkero and pointed it behind her. "Reimu, grab my arm and steer!"

Reimu hesitated. "What?"

"_Just do it!"_

With no other thoughts, she did so, keeping her eyes forward and steering them. Marisa had turned her back and was aiming the mini-hakkero. The rush of wind prevented Reimu from hearing anything, but the sudden push forward told her that Marisa had fired a Master Spark behind them. The sheer increase in speed was incredible. The wind could no longer be felt, and there was a slight whistling in Reimu's ear. She chanced a glance behind her and saw nothing but a silhouette of Marisa against a white wall of light.

The motorcycle crept up behind them slowly but surely. They were able to keep up with it, but not for long. It would eventually pass them. Reimu's eyes snapped open wide as an idea struck her. Still being careful to steer, she concentrated and focused her power. Within seconds, two glowing red and white orbs endowed with a yin-yang appeared on either side of her. Using her will and power alone, she sent them back toward Marisa and directly in front of the mini-hakkero. The boost wasn't much, but it was noticeable. She glanced to her side and actually saw the motorcycle, running at full speed, receding. They had a lot of ground to cover, but with a little luck (and a few stray bullets here and there to slow it down) they could actually win this race!

Of course, that was before her hopes were shattered by one simple event. The There was a loud _thump_ and a puff of smoke. The motorcycle catapulted itself into the air, off the wall. Its momentum alone was enough to keep it suspended in mid-air. Several whirs and clanks could be heard as the motorcycle proceeded to alter its entire form. The wheels had flattened out and 4 very large wings shot out from the sides. A massive cylinder had risen on its back and within seconds was spewing dark blue flames.

What happened next, nobody expected. The former motorcycle tore through the sky like a lightning bolt, almost seeming to twist the scenery around it as it did so. Reimu realized after a moment of shock that they were still keeping pace with the thing. The then looked around to notice that… everything around them had changed. A rainbow of swirling and changing colors surrounded them on all sides. Sound was virtually non-existent. All that could be heard was a dull ringing in the back of one's own head. They were directly behind the former motorcycle and Reimu realized it must be dragging them behind it somehow.

Reimu thought she heard a faint "What?" In the voice that came from the motorcycle, but she couldn't be sure. Reimu saw an opportunity right in front of her. With some effort she moved her arm out in front of her and focused what little energy she had left. Several needles moving at high enough speeds to hit the motorcycle shot from the air around her arm. They embedded themselves into the rear of the motorcycle, causing many sparks and bangs and the fire to go out. The motorcycle then began to fall, and soon was lost in the rainbow of colors. Without the slipstream, they slowly returned to normal speed, color and sounds gradually returning to the world around them.


	16. Total Conversion Engine

**Note*** Updates will be rather irregular from now on. Occasionally I may be able to post 2 chapters in one week, but usually you'll get one every other week. I've just been rather busy :(

* * *

_Perpetual motion…_

_Raw materials…_

_Conversion…_

_Salvation…_

Her eyes fluttered open slowly. Everything seemed to blur and haze around her. Lights of blue and green seemed to flash in front of her at irregular intervals. There was no sound except for a low humming and a very slight rush of air. As her vision began to clear, she could make out more details, but still couldn't make any judgments about where she was or why she was there. A vague memory of someone with green eyes flitted into her mind but was lost just as quickly. She couldn't think clearly. Her head was so foggy that it was impossible to focus on anything for more than a few seconds.

There was a scream to her right. Her eyes shot open wide and for a moment her thought became slightly clearer. Upon glancing to her right, she saw a young girl in a purple outfit with white sleeves and short blond hair. She almost recognized the girl, but her memory seemed to have a mind of its own and she soon lost interest. One thing she did notice, however, was that the girl was sealed inside a large glass vial. The air inside seemed to be colored a deep, brown color, and a rainbow stream seeped up from her body.

After a moment she realized that she, too, was sealed inside one of those vials, but rather then simply being unable to escape, she was restrained with multiple straps that were much stronger then they appeared.

A few uneventful seconds went by before a door on the opposite end of the room opened and four figures walked in. The first was rather ordinary looking with medium length red hair, a brown, rather utilitarian outfit, and cold, green eyes. The next was in a black jumpsuit, had shiny grey hair, and her eyes were a glowing, neon green. The two behind her she recognized almost instantly; one was wearing a deep red dress and a black cape. The other was dressed in a light blue maid's outfit and had lime green hair. Yumemi and Ruukoto both looked rather nervous.

"Yet again, we ask you to please trust in our achievements. There is nothing you have that we don't, while there are hundreds if not thousands more operations that can be performed here." The red head said.

It was faint, barely even audible, but she could have sworn she heard a faint, persistent rambling. Someone was speaking, pleading, begging somewhere that she could not see. She couldn't even make out the words, but whatever it was it almost seemed desperate.

Yumemi sighed. "I simply don't think that this is a good idea. You're operating under the sole assumption that this one program is flawless and cannot malfunction."

"It cannot." The one in black stated firmly.

"You need not worry." The red head spoke again. "Everything will be ready for you shortly."

"I certainly hope so." Yumemi replied. "Are you truly trying to eliminate all magic?"

"Magic is an abomination. It must be eradicated with no traces left behind." The one in black almost snapped.

The small, persistent voice grew louder. For the first time she noticed the expression on Ruukoto's face. Ruukoto was staring at the one in black this entire time with a look of absolute despair and fear. It was _her_ voice. Somehow Ruukoto may have been broadcasting her thoughts. She was begging for something… no, to get _out_ of something. She was desperate, yet powerless to do anything but beg.

Yumemi's expression grew pained. "Well, it's a shame that I won't get more data on magic and what it can truly do, but I suppose what you're offering is more valuable."

The red head spoke up as she walked onto a raised dais in the middle of the room. "You still will. We're gathering every possible data point we can, and if you cooperate, we'd be more than willing to share our information with you." She reached the center of the dais, and instantly, dozens of blue, semi-transparent rectangles flashed in front of her from all around. She seemed to be able to read everything in the short seconds it was displayed for.

Yumemi's face brightened at the thought. "Then it's settled. May we meet again, Ruukoto." She bowed and left the room, leaving Ruukoto with the one in black and the preoccupied red-head.

Ruukoto's persistent voice finally stopped and she closed her eyes. Tears slowly rolled down her cheek, and she looked as though she was recently cursed or sentenced to torture. The one in black smiled and looked away from her. "Come this way… Ruukoto was it?" Ruukoto nodded slowly. "It won't be for long. Follow me." Ruukoto hesitated, but followed sadly.

"Yu… Yukari?" It took her a minute to realize who was speaking. She looked to her right to see the girl in purple awake and sitting up. "When… when did you get here?" Her eyes were low cast, and she looked tired.

Yukari had to think for a moment before realizing that the girl was talking to her. Remembering her own name seemed to awaken a part of her mind that had apparently continued sleeping after she had woken up. She then realized what was missing: Suwako didn't have her hat.

"So you two are awake." The red-headed girl standing on the dais said without looking up. "Re-activate main chambers one and two." That statement was obviously not directed at either of them. A feeling of faintness swept over Yukari, and her vision slowly blackened as she felt her pulse quicken.


	17. The Good, the Bad, the Excessive

A splash of freezing cold water shocked her awake. She screamed and jolted up, rubbing her eyes. Her clothes were moist from the water and her hair wasn't doing much better. She blinked for a moment and tried to clear her foggy head. Once her vision came into focus, she saw several pairs of eyes looking back at her. It took a moment for her to recognize them, but for a moment she didn't even care. Her first priority was to find her hat.

"Looking for this?" A familiar voice behind her said. She turned to see someone she recognized as Reimu holding her hat out to her.

Marisa scowled and snatched it from Reimu. After a moment she looked around. They were in the middle of the forest of magic and, from what she could tell, not far from her own home. "How…?"

"We made it around and back before our opponent could and won the race." Reimu said with a smile on her face. "Surprisingly, she kept her promise and let all of us go."

"When we were let out of that device, we saw you and Reimu out cold on the floor." Utsuho said, Alice, Yuuka, and Patchouli all next to her. "The one you were racing flew us back down here."

"I do have standards you know." The new voice sounded very familiar, but Marisa _just_ couldn't tell who it belonged to. Everyone turned to see someone walking towards them. She was dressed in a plain t-shirt and pants but had large wires extending out from all over her body; one in her forearm, on in her thigh, one on each foot, one from behind her head, etc.. The wires fell behind her and dragged along the ground, pulling plugs behind her as they did. "If I make a promise, I keep it. Besides, that was the most fun I've had in 40 years." Marisa gave her a few blank looks and she laughed. "Please forgive me." She gave a low bow. "My name is Port Forward; Head of Connectivity and self-proclaimed fastest entity in existence."

Okuu snorted. "I know someone who'd be happy to test that theory."

Marisa was still slightly groggy and was rubbed her head. Alice reached down to help her up. "So what now?"

There was a brief moment of nothing but the sound of a nearby river. "Well, I suppose I return to the city and you all return home." She smirked. "It won't last long anyway." She turned around and began walking away, the wires trailing behind her as she did so.

Everyone stared after her. The words _it won't last long anyway_ seemed to hang in the air. "Hold it." Reimu said, standing up and taking a step forward. "What do you mean 'It won't last long'?"

Port stopped and chuckled. "I'm not at liberty to say." She turned her head to reveal one of her glowing green eyes. "Let's just say that magic and science aren't so different after all. _Some_ of us just don't seem to realize that." Without another word, she vanished in a flash of green light.

Okuu blinked. "I've got to learn how they keep doing that." She said to herself.

* * *

"She's being stubborn." Her voice was digital and cold, annoying Terra ever so slightly whenever she spoke. The room was kept unbearably cold, unfelt by the three standing on the floor, but all too real to the one suspended in the air above them. "We can't get a response out of her no matter what. We've tried every stimulus not considered torture."

"Then move on to torture." Terra's voice was icy and unfeeling, almost completely monotone. To an ordinary human, this would have frozen them in fear. For those close to Terra, it was normal. "You two are the best onExplore has to offer aside from myself and the other Processors. I expect results." She turned and left the room, leaving the two alone with the ever=present green light and the girl suspended in the air, sobbing lightly.

"Any word from Fibre?" The second girl asked after a moment.

"Lin, if you don't stop asking that, I'll shut you down myself." The threat sounded somewhat light when said in her vaguely beeping voice, but it was all too real.

Lin looked concerned. "We're equal, Dow. I will not take threats from you." She turned and stormed out of the same door that Terra exited through.

There was a long period of stillness. The only thing Dow was truly aware of was the green light that seemed to be staring her down and the light, hiccupping sob emitting from the suspended girl. Dow lifted her head to star the red-clad girl. Her short blonde hair was drenched in the eerie green glow. Her wings were spread out, and each of the diamond shaped pieces of her wings were fitted into an individual socket. "You can't last forever." She said to the weeping girl. "We will break you. Don't be so sad. It's for a good cause." She turned and stepped out of the room.

The green glow suddenly became as bright as the sun. Flandre looked up with some difficulty at the massive green eye staring her in the face. A word echoed through the room in what could just barely be called a voice.

_Salvation…_


	18. Passover…

**Note*** Okay, so things start taking a turn for the weird right about now. Bear with me; I don't think I've thought this part out as much as I should have.

* * *

The warm summer wind blew through her hair and clothes. The leaves were piled up along the sides of the walkway; the fruits of several hours of labor. A small wind chime sounded near the storehouse, and she could vaguely hear a half-hearted laugh come from a half-conscious Suika lying on the steps next to her.

It was all too clear what the ice fairy meant all those months ago. Reimu could tell that it was almost spring; that winter had come and gone. Never once was there a chill breeze. Snow never fell from the sky. The leaves in the trees turned golden and brown, and fell to the ground, prompted only by their own growth cycle. It had remained warm through the winter.

Reimu stared up into the sky at the massive blue moon surrounded by a green halo of light. She knew in her heart that they were the cause of this everlasting summer, but just couldn't figure out why or how. What was their purpose for being here? What does Gensokyo have that they could want?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a massive _thump_ off in the distance. Reimu panicked and pushed herself off the ground, hovering over the tops of the trees. Luckily, it was just another patch of random forest. Pillars of silver smoke erupted from where yet another section of forest had been turned to metal. _They keep firing those blasts at the ground…_ This was the 7th firing this month.

A sudden gust of wind picked up. A shout from off in the distance caught her attention. "Reimu!" She turned to see Sanae of all people racing toward her, riding the wind as she did so. Sanae landed, and the wind died down, back to a warm breeze. "We need you. Nitori's gotten the girl from the blue moon to remember some things." Reimu didn't need any further information.

She was about to take off with Sanae when someone else shouted her name. She saw Daiyousei hovering toward her in a frenzy. Daiyousei stopped directly in front of her and dropped to her knees, panting. "Reimu…" She said between gasps. "It's Cirno… she's sick… we don't know what to do."

Reimu looked at Sanae, who simply nodded, and the two of them followed Daiyousei back near the shore of the Misty Lake. There they found Cirno lying unconscious just out of reach of the water. Reimu ran up to her and picked up her head. "How long has she been out?"

Daiyousei hesitated. "Not long. She said that she was feeling tired and went to sleep. That's not the problem. Just feel the air around you!" Reimu paid more attention to her direct surroundings and found something that genuinely startled her. Cirno wasn't cold. She was still cool to the touch, but what once gave a human frostbite now was hardly enough to cool a warm drink. "What do we do?" Daiyousei was on the verge of panic. Reimu honestly believed that if she hadn't been there, Daiyousei would've flown straight for the blue moon, _Router,_ herself.

"It looks like it's just a flu, though I didn't know fairies could even get sick." Sanae spoke up. "I'll take her to Eintei and see if Eirin has any suggestions. You go on ahead, Reimu. I'll meet you at the foot of the mountain." Reimu nodded and flew into the air, speeding toward Youkai Mountain.

* * *

Marisa stood at on the grass at the edge of the fresh patch of shiny silver material in front of her. The air was incredibly warm, and the air was tinted with a silvery smoke. What was once trees and plants were now towers of metal reaching to the sky. The grass had been completely flattened.

She sighed and said to herself "This one hit a _little_ too close to home this time." She turned and stared back to her cottage, not 50 feet away from the new patch. "Only a matter of time I suppose." Her thought subconsciously wandered to Alice's fate and she blinked. _Where will I go if it really does happen?_ She started walking toward her house._ Every time a patch like this shows up, a cleanup-crew from Router comes down to clear the whole area…_

She stopped and smiled. "Perfect!" She said aloud. "When they show up to strip the place, I'll be waiting on them!" She suddenly frowned as she remembered the state of her mini-hakkero. She reached into her pocket to pull it out and examined the now-blackened crystal on the front. _Will it even function anymore?_ Her first thought was to go see Kourin, but after a moment of thinking, she decided it may be best to take it to someone who's good at fixing things. _And she's better do it fast._

She grabbed her broom from beside her house and took off into the air, heading for Youkai Mountain.

* * *

_We're… dying…_

Reimu landed near the lake that the kappa usually call home. As usual, she didn't see anyone at first. After a moment of waiting, a voice from behind said "Reimu!" She turned to see Nitori Kawashiro standing there. "Glad you could make it. We need you to come see this." She started walking toward a rather well-concealed cave mouth and Reimu followed.

After winding through several corridors (some natural and some obviously artificial) she ended up in a somewhat dark room and saw the girl from before sitting and looking down. When she heard their footsteps her head shot up to look at them. At first she looked terrified, but upon recognizing Reimu her face softened and she actually smiled.

Nitori went to sit by her and motioned Reimu to do the same. "We've tried various techniques to try and restore her memory, as well as heal her arm. So far, we've had no luck restoring her injury at all." Reimu noticed that the girl was wearing fresh bandages in the exact same place as before. "However, it seems that, over time, her memory is coming back." The girl looked into Reimu's eyes. Hers were green, and in them Reimu saw both an overpowering sadness and a spark of desperate hope.

"It's still fuzzy," the girl said, almost to herself, "but there are several things I do remember."

"Do you remember your name?" Reimu asked eagerly.

A broad smile crept its way onto her face. "Arithmetic. Grammar Arithmetic. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."


	19. Puzzle Pieces & Iron Memories

**Note*** Sorry about the really late update. This chapter isn't even very good. I'll try my hardest to get caught up, but school and writer's block isn't really helping.

* * *

_We… or I should say _they… _are dying._

_The journey's been long and difficult. We were able to sustain ourselves on our current power source for a very long time, but nothing can last forever. I can't remember what Router runs on now, but I _do_ know that it's almost gone. Most of the people in onExplore were starting to lose hope. Less and less machines were being manufactured in an effort to conserve resources. Drops in morale and lack of materials and knowledge led to a decrease in the cyborg population. Everything was beginning to decay, and everyone was preparing for the end…_

_Power would not stand for it. Any opportunity we could find, we took. Multiple worlds have fallen due to our survival instinct. We've managed to keep ourselves afloat for a while, but no matter where we looked, we could not find anywhere that would provide for us._

_Gensokyo was the first place we found that held hope for us. The problem was simply the presence of magic. Power was completely convinced that magic was impossible, yet it was used on a regular basis here. Ever since then… ever since we found this little place… ever since we broke the border…_

_It's hard for me to even continue. Everyone was ordered to do things that demanded a complete lack of morals, to put it delicately. The previous worlds we conquered were quick, efficient, and painless to the victim. Actually, this is the first world we've found with other intelligent life. But… our resource consumption tripled, as did the manufacturing of drones. The hierarchy that I've grown up with was instituted shortly after this land was discovered. Power assumed not only absolute control over our lives, but over our reality._

… _My memory's fuzzy beyond this point. We need resources to rebuild… we need a new power source… we need _something,_ but what…?_

* * *

She placed her hands on the sides of her head and started sobbing. "Something…"

"Relax." Reimu placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "You can't be expected to remember all at once, especially if it's this painful for you." There was a moment of silence. "Do you know why winter never came?"

Grammar's head shot up and she stared at Reimu. "Winter?" Her tone was curious and slightly confused. "What's winter?"

Reimu hesitated. "It's the period of time where the air is very cold."

Grammar tilted her head. "I knew that the temperature here on the planet varied from time to time, but I never realized it was so drastic. Wait, you said winter _didn't_ come?" She blinked and looked away. "Maybe…" she muttered to herself.

Reimu tried to persist. "What?"

Grammar smiled. "It's nothing. Just a paranoid feeling."

The ground shook violently for a moment, knocking Nitori to the ground. Reimu instantly became alert and shot to her feet. Nitori just chuckled. "No need for alarm." She said happily. "Youkai Mountain's likely the most well defended area in Gensokyo at the moment."

As if on cue, there was a sudden gust of wind blew into the cave. Reimu didn't recognize who flew in, but her headgear and black crow's wings gave her away as one of the Tengu. "Ms. Kawashiro? We need you on the surface." And without another word, she was gone.

Nitori smiled. "Come see, Reimu. You might be impressed." She started out, expecting Reimu to follow. Grammar now had a book and pencil in her hand that Reimu hadn't noticed before and seemed preoccupied writing something. Since there was nothing else particularly pressing, Reimu followed Nitori.

When she made it out of the cave, Nitori had already taken off and was ascending toward the peak of Youkai Mountain. It was surprising to see her fly uninterrupted straight through a regiment of Tengu. _Confusing,_ Reimu thought, _but not impossible._ She took off into the air as well and followed Nitori through the clouds. There were a bunch of sounds coming from above that sounded like a war zone. This theory was more or less confirmed when a missile flew straight by her and crashed into a nearby wall, exploding on contact. Her sleeves were slightly singed, but no damage otherwise. She looked closer above her and found something she couldn't believe.

Drones numbering in the thousands swarmed over Youkai Mountain, carrying weapons and equipment that Reimu didn't even recognize. She could only speculate as to what half of it did. The sunlight gleamed off their reflective, black surface, and even from this distance Reimu could see the green glow of their eyes. Despite the obvious invasion, this was not what surprised Reimu.

Facing this horde of machines was another army, vast in its own right, but much more rag-tag. Tengu flew in and out of battle, using simple swords and shields but still doing lots of damage. Kappa lined the mountain itself firing cannons, crossbows, and various other weapons. A blinding flash came from off to the side and she saw none other than Kanako Yasaka. Four onbashira Flew from seemingly nowhere and converged behind her, though they didn't look the way Reimu remembered them. Metallic lines and gears covered them, and they seemed almost twice as long as before.

She didn't have long to admire them. A gleaming white missile streaked right by her cheek, almost touching her, and flew toward Kanako. It never reached its target. Sprays and barrages of projectiles, both magical and physical, poured out not only from the onbashiro, but from the amassed kappa behind her.

She blinked and suddenly realized three things. One, she was floating in the middle of a war zone. Two, she lost Nitori in the sea of bodies. Three, Youkai Mountain truly did seem to be entirely unified and prepared for any battle that came their way. Without looking back at the invading machines, she flew toward the army of kappa lining the side of the mountain.

The moment she landed, a thunderous boom sounded in the direction of the floating sphere. She looked up in horror to see an amorphous mass of grey heading their way. If it reached its destination, Youkai Mountain would be covered in metal.

Reimu stopped worrying when she heard a rather loud buzzer go off and saw the army around her scatter. The power of the sun itself surged toward the grey mass.


	20. Canonical Regret

**Note*** No, the story isn't dead. I've just been _beyond_ busy. Updates will continue, no matter how much time passes between them.

* * *

"With all due respect, I believe you are mistaken."

"You will do as you are ordered."

"But these orders simply do not make sense!"

"You do not question her authority, or mine for that matter."

"… As you command." Dow bowed her head to Terra yet again.

"We are machines. Formality is only necessary in the presence of the living." Without another word, Terra turned and left the room.

In a sudden flurry of anger, Dow turned around and pulled a massive switch in front of her all the way down. There was a terrifying, electrical sound that she dare not look at the source of, and a scream that could surely be heard echoing through every corner of Router. She let this persist for a moment, then moved the switch back to the off position.

"Why…" she turned again to face the girl suspended above her. "Why don't you just give up?" She shouted. "No one can stand against us! Why can't you just give us what we want? Why do you make us resort to these things?" The hollow, digital undertone in her voice became fast and agitated.

She waited for a response, but the only one she got was a single, hate-filled eye staring down at her and the words "I will destroy you" in Flandre's young, yet terrifying voice.

The doors opened and Lin walked in, holding a small tablet. "You might want to take a look at this. It's from Fibre."

Dow almost snatched it out of Lin's hand. "So we have more followers?"

"As far as I know, the preparations have already been made."

There was an uncomfortable pause. "Lin, do you know why we're attacking only one portion of Gensokyo at a time?"

Lin thought for a moment. "I thought it had something to do with efficiency."

"Don't you think that, with all of our resources and numbers, it would make more sense to simply overwhelm them all at once?"

"It's not my place to say. I follow orders."

"Of course you do." She started to walk out of the room as well. "That changes in ten days." The door opened and she stopped. "Oh yeah. Terra told me to start using _that_ on this little vampire."

* * *

Marisa suddenly doubted her own idea to go to Youkai Mountain. Most of the kappa were gone, and she didn't really like the sounds she heard coming from further up the mountainside. "Marisa?" She turned to see a girl she didn't recognize at first. She was wearing a long red dress with a very long ribbon of the same color. Her hair was bright, emerald green and tied into one underneath her chin. "You don't come by here very often."

"Hina?" Marisa asked. "Glad to see somebody's actually down here. What's going _on_ up there?" she gestured upward.

Hina sighed. "All of Youkai Mountain's united against this massive army of robots that are invading from the Blue Moon. It's been going on nonstop, day and night, for several days now."

Marisa pulled out her blackened mini-hakkero and sighed. "I suppose I'll have to take it to Kourin after all." Something suddenly dropped out of the sky and hit the ground near her with a mighty _thump._ When the small amount of smoke cleared, she saw the head of a drone lying next to her. "Are we winning?"

"So far, I believe so."

"Well, then that's all that matters." There was a sudden series of rainbow flashes above them. Marisa recognized its source almost immediately. "When did Reimu get here?"

Hina looked startled and look up. "Reimu's here?"

A few moments of watching the fight passed and Marisa sighed. "Well, as much as I'd love to go help, I'm on a bit of a time limit." She hopped on her broomstick and took off without another word to Hina.

* * *

Nitori and a few other kappa were behind the battle lines, working out a strategy of some kind. Reimu was invited to come see them, along with Grammar for some reason. After a few minutes of discussing various defense plans, Reimu realized something. "Is Youkai Mountain the only area currently being attacked?"

Everyone hesitated. "As far as we know." One of the kappa answered.

They didn't have time to talk further. There was a sudden change in the ambient sounds. Kappa and tengu alike began screaming and retreating. Explosions and electrical sounds were heard throughout the battlefield. Reimu didn't wait to see what was happening. She took off toward the direction of the fight to assess.

All the drones were gone. The only ones she could see were the broken and deactivated corpses scattered around the ground, yet the army was still retreating. She kept pushing forward until she saw what was striking such fear and decimating the army.

She looked… different. Her eyes no longer showed the compassion and joy they once held, but instead were lit with an eerie green light. Her left arm had been replaced with a massive sword with serrated teeth that spun on command. Attached to her back was a black box with lights running up and down. Her outfit was torn in various places, revealing black plating and more lights.

Ruukoto turned to stare at Reimu. "Obedient, isn't she?" Reimu only barely recognized the voice. Floating off to one side were two people she recognized, and a sudden fire began building in her. "I'm amazed at what you call 'technology' on this planet. Your outside world hasn't even advanced as far as you have, yet this is the best you can produce?" Data signal hovered with that same cloud surrounding her. Ethernet simply hovered next to her, facing down with her eyes closed.

Reimu was speechless. She looked back in horror at Ruukoto, once a gift from a colleague now a weapon against her.

"Your victim doesn't need to know _what_ they're being killed with as long as they die." Ethernet almost seemed to lecture Data.

Data simply nodded. "Yes, Ethernet." Ruukoto leapt toward Reimu with a ferocity that was previously nonexistent.

* * *

**Note*** It'll get good soon.


End file.
